Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $450.00 at Oppenheimer

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target boosted by Oppenheimer from $410.00 to $450.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Oppenheimer’s target price suggests a potential upside of 20.06% from the stock’s previous close.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $376.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of PANW traded down $3.61 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $374.80. The company had a trading volume of 510,448 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,009,804. The firm has a market cap of $121.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.48, a P/E/G ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $349.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $324.19. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $233.81 and a 52-week high of $384.00.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total transaction of $17,755,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $47,055,533.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction 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 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 351,452 shares of company stock valued at $118,643,279. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,118,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,239 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $150,520,000 after buying an additional 444,100 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $799,792,000 after purchasing an additional 198,078 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.