Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 1.9% After Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shot up 1.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $205.00 to $220.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $192.31 and last traded at $191.56. 792,455 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 6,139,540 shares. The stock had previously closed at $188.01.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Susquehanna upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 price target (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. OTR Global reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Virtue Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 97.8% in the fourth quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 3,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $608,000 after buying an additional 1,652 shares in the last quarter. SWAN Capital LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. SWAN Capital LLC now owns 200 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $713,000. Finally, Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $532,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.8 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $186.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $184.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 106.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.