JMP Securities Boosts Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $212.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price hoisted by analysts at JMP Securities from $208.00 to $212.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “market outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. JMP Securities’ target price indicates a potential upside of 10.70% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.87.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 5.1 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $10.37 on Friday, reaching $191.51. The stock had a trading volume of 6,210,971 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,087,521. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $186.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $181.42. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $130.04 and a 1 year high of $207.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.83, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tradewinds LLC. lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Geneva Partners LLC raised its position in 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 valued at $3,741,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Klingman & Associates LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% in the third quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 750 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.