Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Rating Lowered to Sell at Guggenheim

Guggenheim downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) from a neutral rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $130.00 target price on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $217.50 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $222.50 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 price target (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued 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, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.29.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $172.83 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $130.04 and a 1-year high of $207.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $191.49 and a 200-day moving average of $178.27. The company has a market capitalization of $113.41 billion, a PE ratio of 22.50, a P/E/G ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $195,596,176.16. The trade was a 13.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 867,734 shares of company stock valued at $161,546,523 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.