Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Given New $430.00 Price Target at Bank of America

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective increased by stock analysts at Bank of America from $400.00 to $430.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 9.45% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $420.00 to $435.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $402.56.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $392.89 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $258.17 and a fifty-two week high of $408.53. The business has a 50-day moving average of $362.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $338.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.19, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total value of $22,865,104.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 639,994 shares in the company, valued at $219,505,142.12. This trade represents a 9.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was 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 owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. This represents a 24.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tradewinds LLC. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $791,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $312,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. FLC Capital Advisors raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,379,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $357,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.