Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $230.00 at Morgan Stanley

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective upped by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $223.00 to $230.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 29.86% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.24.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $177.11 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $116.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $189.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $178.72. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $130.04 and a 52-week high of $207.24.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total transaction of $31,730,609.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $195,596,176.16. This trade represents a 13.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 867,734 shares of company stock worth $161,546,523 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after acquiring an additional 220,900 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,564,000 after purchasing an additional 255,060 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after buying an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,005,161 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $685,364,000 after buying an additional 31,595 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.