Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Earns Hold Rating from Westpark Capital

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Westpark Capital in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $390.00 to $430.00 in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $383.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $124.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.88, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $260.09 and a twelve month high of $408.53. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $364.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $339.39.

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

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’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 directly owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at $370,926,027.50. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on 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. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637 in the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Tradewinds LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $791,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors boosted its position 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 valued at $1,379,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its holdings 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 worth $119,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.