Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Earns Overweight Rating from Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research report released on Thursday, StockNewsAPI reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $415.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $378.49.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $3.20 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $363.53. 828,353 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,927,855. The company has a 50 day moving average of $352.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $328.38. The stock has a market cap of $118.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.99, a P/E/G ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $233.81 and a fifty-two week high of $384.00.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total value of $17,755,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.44, for a total value of $341,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 41,517 shares in the company, valued at $14,175,564.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total value of $17,755,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 315,252 shares of company stock valued at $107,138,877 in the last three months. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kathmere Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the second quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. FLC Capital Advisors lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,379,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $119,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,741,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.