Palo Alto Networks’ (PANW) Overweight Rating Reiterated at Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald reissued their overweight rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $445.00 target price on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $390.00 to $430.00 in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, OTR Global restated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.6 %

PANW stock opened at $383.36 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $364.32 and a 200-day moving average of $339.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $260.09 and a 12 month high of $408.53.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks are scheduled to split before the market opens on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly minted shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth about $29,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.