Morgan Stanley Raises Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $421.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price raised by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $390.00 to $421.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 13.97% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. BNP Paribas started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 target price for the company. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Northland Securities increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $372.28.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $369.40 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $120.28 billion, a PE ratio of 50.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $339.77 and a 200-day moving average of $318.54. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $233.81 and a one year high of $380.84.

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 company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.77, for a total value of $11,439,720.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,187,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $377,373,165.59. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.77, for a total transaction of $11,439,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,187,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $377,373,165.59. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. 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 269,866 shares of company stock valued at $88,620,447 over the last ninety days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 6.2% during the third quarter. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 1,984 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $678,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth $405,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 834 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.