Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $330.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective hoisted by Oppenheimer from $305.00 to $330.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the subject of several other reports. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $350.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. They set an outperform rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a buy rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $277.71 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $176.30 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84. The company has a market capitalization of $89.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.39, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $295.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $290.40.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 61.8% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 55 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,071.4% in the 2nd quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 82 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% in the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.