Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $225.00 at Scotiabank

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target hoisted by research analysts at Scotiabank from $200.00 to $225.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “sector outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 22.60% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on PANW. StockNews.com cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $208.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $185.00 price target (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.85.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 3.6 %

PANW stock traded up $6.41 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $183.52. 4,036,576 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,268,968. The company has a market cap of $120.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.77, a PEG ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $189.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.72. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $130.04 and a 1-year high of $207.24.

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

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 867,734 shares of company stock worth $161,546,523 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. First Bancorp Inc ME raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.2% in the fourth quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME now owns 1,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $349,000 after purchasing an additional 960 shares during the last quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 95.3% during the fourth quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 40,538 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,376,000 after buying an additional 19,781 shares during the period. Grange Capital LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $1,358,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 582 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $106,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the period. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 70.3% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.