Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 0.6% After Earnings Beat

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price shot up 0.6% on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock traded as high as $199.53 and last traded at $197.84. 2,607,180 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 5,713,216 shares. The stock had previously closed at $196.73.

The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. BTIG Research cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.40.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,214,409.80. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 97.4% during the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 10,508 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,912,000 after buying an additional 5,186 shares during the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 50,100.0% during the fourth quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 502 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $91,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 113.0% during the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 15,932 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,899,000 after buying an additional 8,452 shares during the last quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $761,000. Finally, Arrow Financial Corp grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 84.2% during the fourth quarter. Arrow Financial Corp now owns 11,499 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,092,000 after buying an additional 5,258 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $181.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.09, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.