Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Earns Buy Rating from Rosenblatt Securities

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by research analysts at Rosenblatt Securities in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $235.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price objective points to a potential upside of 20.95% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on PANW. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. HSBC upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $156.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.46.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.7%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $194.30 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $142.01 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.47, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a fifty day moving average of $177.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.26.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. The trade was a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $11,142,122,000 after buying an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,611,013,000 after acquiring an additional 6,725,148 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $970,736,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $810,047,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,427,048,000 after acquiring an additional 4,486,654 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.