Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.08 EPS

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The network technology company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.63 EPS.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $397.41 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $363.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $338.82. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $260.09 and a one year high of $408.53. The firm has a market cap of $129.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.82, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks’s stock is set to split on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly created shares will be distributed to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 31,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,983,359.33. This trade represents a 24.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 in the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report 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 report on Tuesday, August 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $404.62.

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.