Robert W. Baird Issues Positive Forecast for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target upped by Robert W. Baird from $385.00 to $425.00 in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on PANW. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Northland Securities increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $350.00 to $325.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $381.56.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW traded down $7.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $387.00. 2,204,087 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,849,976. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $234.15 and a one year high of $408.53. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $359.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $336.07. The company has a market cap of $126.01 billion, a PE ratio of 53.38, a P/E/G ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total value of $20,698,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,854,924.82. The trade was a 27.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at $370,926,027.50. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Tradewinds LLC. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $791,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% in the third quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,379,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. 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.