Robert W. Baird Issues Positive Forecast for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price upped by Robert W. Baird from $425.00 to $435.00 in a research report report published on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 16th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday. Finally, Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $370.00 price target (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.6 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $383.36 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $364.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $339.89. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $260.09 and a twelve month high of $408.53. The company has a market capitalization of $124.82 billion, a PE ratio of 49.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks’s stock is going to split on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly issued shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. This trade represents a 24.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total value of $22,865,104.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 639,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,505,142.12. The trade was a 9.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $536,000. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the first quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 39.4% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 54,870 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $15,590,000 after purchasing an additional 15,519 shares during the last quarter. Ceeto Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $568,000. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 19,100 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401 shares during the last quarter. 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.