Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $200.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Susquehanna raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $217.50 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $197.50 to $227.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $195.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.03.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $188.76 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $61.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.58, a PEG ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $130.04 and a one year high of $207.24. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $191.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.21.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 72,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.25, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,231,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,237,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 571,172 shares of company stock worth $107,074,352. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tradewinds LLC. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $791,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $312,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in 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. Institutional investors 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.