Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Earns Overweight Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating restated by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $350.00 price objective on the network technology company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price points to a potential upside of 26.20% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on PANW. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Capital One Financial downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $302.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $315.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna lowered 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 report on Monday, February 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $315.46.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW traded up $2.31 on Wednesday, reaching $277.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,161,233 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,610,827. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.32, a PEG ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $300.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $290.27. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $176.30 and a 12-month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted 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 company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at $46,659,063. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 61.8% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 55 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1,071.4% in the second quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 82 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.