Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 1.8% Following Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares shot up 1.8% on Friday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $390.00 to $421.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $378.33 and last traded at $375.92. 860,505 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 4,073,196 shares. The stock had previously closed at $369.40.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Susquehanna increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $334.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $372.28.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at $370,926,027.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total value of $22,865,104.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 639,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,505,142.12. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 269,866 shares of company stock valued at $88,620,447 over the last 90 days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the second quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,110 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Herbst Group LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Herbst Group LLC now owns 9,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,313,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 95 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 12.9% during the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 280 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.7 %

The stock has a market cap of $122.30 billion, a PE ratio of 51.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $340.85 and a 200 day moving average of $318.89.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.