Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Now Covered by Stephens

Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued an equal weight rating and a $205.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also commented on PANW. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price objective (down previously from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.27.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $171.31 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.51, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $187.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $185.46. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $132.50 and a 1 year high of $208.39.

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

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $36,316,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares during the period. United Bank lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 6,835 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 406.6% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 29,744 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $10,166,000 after purchasing an additional 23,873 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 5.0% in the third quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 2,573 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $879,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 149.1% during the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 6,001 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,051,000 after buying an additional 3,592 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.