Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Given New $425.00 Price Target at Robert W. Baird

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) had its price objective raised by investment analysts at Robert W. Baird from $385.00 to $425.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the network technology company's stock. Robert W. Baird's price target would indicate a potential upside of 9.54% from the stock's current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on PANW. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Northland Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $381.56.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $6.39 on Friday, hitting $388.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,282,409 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,845,839. The company has a market capitalization of $126.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $358.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $335.42. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $234.15 and a 1 year high of $408.53.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The business 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%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total value of $20,698,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares of the company's stock, valued at $54,854,924.82. The trade was a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,113,948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,249,594 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,099,564,000 after buying an additional 255,060 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,075,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $757,321,000 after acquiring an additional 114,742 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,005,161 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $685,364,000 after purchasing an additional 31,595 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.