Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 0.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 0.1% during trading on Thursday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $370.00 to $410.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $375.73 and last traded at $373.53. 312,284 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 4,042,742 shares. The stock had previously closed at $373.23.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on PANW. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $373.28.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total value of $64,682.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,746.62. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company's stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 351,452 shares of company stock valued at $118,643,279 in the last ninety days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 47.9% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 18,804 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $6,427,000 after acquiring an additional 6,090 shares during the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 1,746 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $597,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 24.1% during the 3rd quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,495 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 277.7% in the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 15,125 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $5,170,000 after purchasing an additional 11,121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 7,564 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,585,000 after buying an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $347.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $322.01. The company has a market cap of $121.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.13.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. The company's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

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.