Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Given New $330.00 Price Target at Oppenheimer

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective hoisted by Oppenheimer from $305.00 to $330.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on PANW. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Capital One Financial downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $302.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a positive rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and set a $345.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $315.46.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $277.33 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $299.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $290.18. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $176.30 and a one year high of $380.84. The firm has a market cap of $89.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total transaction of $15,436,350.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,955,958.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,129,800,000 after buying an additional 1,058,127 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $751,276,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,430,299 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $804,199,000 after buying an additional 86,995 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.8% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,376,601 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $673,731,000 after buying an additional 92,760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,136,547 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $924,905,000 after buying an additional 30,013 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.