Hsbc Global Res Upgrades Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) to "Hold"

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Hsbc Global Res from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on PANW. StockNews.com cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. BTIG Research downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. HSBC upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.52.

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Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $1.64 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $169.98. 5,097,537 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,901,536. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $135.18 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The company has a market cap of $112.54 billion, a PE ratio of 95.76, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $182.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.90.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. The trade was a 21.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 939,318 shares of company stock worth $165,384,602 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $548,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,122,000 after acquiring an additional 5,658 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% during the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,886,000 after acquiring an additional 11,095 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $244,871,000 after acquiring an additional 606,778 shares during the period. Finally, Mosley Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 116.2% in the 4th quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 3,023 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $561,000 after purchasing an additional 1,625 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

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.