Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 0.1%

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price was down 0.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $304.50 and last traded at $308.15. Approximately 1,210,713 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 5,138,863 shares. The stock had previously closed at $308.58.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $360.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday. Northland Securities cut Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $321.39.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $290.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $299.74. The company has a market capitalization of $104.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.74, a PEG ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.18.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total value of $36,334,289.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,895,983.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total value of $36,334,289.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,895,983.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 278,326 shares of company stock worth $80,147,130 in the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,563,020,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29,086.9% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,057,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $606,854,000 after purchasing an additional 2,050,917 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 83.1% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,616,803 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $771,643,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187,915 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,129,800,000 after buying an additional 1,058,127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 359.3% during the fourth quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 957,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $282,406,000 after buying an additional 749,199 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.