Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 0.1%

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $385.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $365.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Loop Capital cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Twelve 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $317.45.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.9 %

The stock has a market cap of $100.84 billion, a PE ratio of 44.79, a P/E/G ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s 50 day moving average is $289.10 and its 200-day moving average is $299.07.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of the 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 approximately $49,895,983.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total transaction of $36,334,289.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,895,983.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total transaction of $10,376,640.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $373,434,232.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 280,193 shares of company stock worth $80,670,132. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. now owns 2,463 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $726,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 204 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 233 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parisi Gray Wealth Management increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 1,519 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $448,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is 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.