Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Upgraded at Stephens

Stephens upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. BTIG Research cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.27.

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Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.1 %

PANW stock traded up $1.87 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $173.18. 3,338,552 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,881,771. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.57, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.38. 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 Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This represents a 21.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $36,316,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares in the last quarter. United Bank lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 6,835 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,336,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 149.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 6,001 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,051,000 after acquiring an additional 3,592 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.2% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 557,775 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $190,655,000 after acquiring an additional 89,719 shares during the period. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Hedge funds and other 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.