Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Given “Hold” Rating at Westpark Capital

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Westpark Capital in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on PANW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $387.00 to $449.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $402.56.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $399.07 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $260.09 and a 12-month high of $408.53. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $362.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $338.41. The stock has a market cap of $129.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.50, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % 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 this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. This represents a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after buying an additional 1,050,173 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at about $177,933,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at about $174,124,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $150,520,000 after acquiring an additional 444,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.