Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Now Covered by BNP Paribas

by · The Markets Daily

Investment analysts at BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage set an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock. BNP Paribas’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 12.99% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 16th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $371.50.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.2 %

PANW opened at $362.87 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $339.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $318.22. The company has a market cap of $117.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $233.81 and a 12-month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total transaction of $64,682.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,746.62. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total value of $64,682.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,746.62. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 269,866 shares of company stock worth $88,620,447. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 91.0% in the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,683 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the period. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% in the third quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $79,149,000 after buying an additional 32,626 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $799,792,000 after buying an additional 198,078 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% in the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 26,404 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,502,000 after buying an additional 8,611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the first quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,377 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,244,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

(Get Free Report)

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.

Further Reading