By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $207.24 and last traded at $204.81, with a volume of 2079633 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $202.50.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $188.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $182.00 to $199.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $172.50 to $177.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.03.
Get Our Latest Analysis on PANW
Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.6 %
The company has a 50-day moving average price of $191.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12.
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks
In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 72,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.25, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,231,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 3.13 % 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, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,237,430 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 571,172 shares of company stock worth $107,074,352 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks
A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tradewinds LLC. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $791,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the second quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. FLC Capital Advisors raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% in the third quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,379,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
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.
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