Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Hits New 1-Year High - What's Next?

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $207.24 and last traded at $204.81, with a volume of 2079633 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $202.50.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $207.50 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $217.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $201.03.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $191.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.03 billion, a PE ratio of 26.20, a PEG ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. Palo Alto Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,237,430 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 72,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.25, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,231,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 571,172 shares of company stock worth $107,074,352 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,609,486,000 after purchasing an additional 220,900 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $1,113,948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 255,060 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $757,321,000 after buying an additional 114,742 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is 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.