Jefferies Financial Group Has Lowered Expectations for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) had its target price dropped by Jefferies Financial Group from $240.00 to $215.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the network technology company's stock. Jefferies Financial Group's price objective suggests a potential upside of 25.50% from the stock's previous close.

PANW has been the topic of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $190.00 price objective (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.27.

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Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.4 %

PANW stock traded up $0.67 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $171.31. 4,034,298 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,899,185. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 96.51, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $132.50 and a 12-month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. The trade was a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $11,142,122,000 after purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,611,013,000 after acquiring an additional 6,725,148 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,427,048,000 after acquiring an additional 4,486,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,533,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.