Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $425.00 at Barclays

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective raised by Barclays from $410.00 to $425.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on PANW. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $381.56.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $394.39 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $234.15 and a fifty-two week high of $408.53. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $357.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $335.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.12.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,924.82. The trade was a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% during the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.