JPMorgan Chase & Co. Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) had its target price upped by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $387.00 to $449.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the network technology company's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.07% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on PANW. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. OTR Global reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $390.39.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of PANW stock traded down $0.17 on Monday, hitting $386.83. The company had a trading volume of 2,232,411 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,842,728. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $249.56 and a twelve month high of $408.53. The firm has a market cap of $125.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $359.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $336.73.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. Palo Alto Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. This trade represents a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 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.