Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Earns Overweight Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $350.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 26.20% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Redburn Atlantic boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $378.00 to $327.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $290.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $315.46.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.8 %

PANW stock traded up $2.31 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $277.33. The stock had a trading volume of 3,161,233 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,610,827. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $176.30 and a one year high of $380.84. The company’s 50 day moving average is $300.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $290.27. The company has a market capitalization of $89.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,955,958.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total transaction of $15,436,350.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,955,958.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. RB Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.9% during the 1st quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 602 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $375,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Morgens Waterfall Vintiadis & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $6,910,000. United Bank boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 2,822 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,757,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $963,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential PLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $1,022,000. 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.