Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-two research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $204.69.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. TD Cowen raised 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. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331 in the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% during the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 834 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $268,851,000 after purchasing an additional 129,371 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 94.8% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 976 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 10.2% during the third quarter. AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC now owns 4,352 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,488,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the period. Finally, Bfsg LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% in the third quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 18,320 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,262,000 after purchasing an additional 2,746 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.1 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $198.81 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $130.04 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $131.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.01, a P/E/G ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $187.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $182.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

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.