KeyCorp Issues Positive Forecast for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price lifted by KeyCorp from $217.00 to $240.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $222.50 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. HSBC cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.89.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $195.49 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $128.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s 50 day moving average is $186.91 and its 200-day moving average is $180.95. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarter last year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331 in the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Tradewinds LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $791,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,741,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 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.