Susquehanna Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective upped by investment analysts at Susquehanna from $420.00 to $435.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a “positive” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Susquehanna’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 13.47% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on PANW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $387.00 to $449.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $370.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $383.36 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $260.09 and a 1 year high of $408.53. The stock has a market cap of $124.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.88, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $364.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $339.39.

Palo Alto Networks shares are going to split on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly minted shares will be payable to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. The trade was a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $177,933,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $174,124,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $150,520,000 after purchasing an additional 444,100 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.