Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 0.3%

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price shot up 0.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $295.00 and last traded at $294.45. 875,918 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 5,471,983 shares. The stock had previously closed at $293.49.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PANW. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, January 18th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.7 %

The company has a fifty day moving average of $289.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $291.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.12, a P/E/G ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at $261,000. KG&L Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 165.4% in the first quarter. KG&L Capital Management LLC now owns 8,053 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,288,000 after buying an additional 5,019 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.2% in the first quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,469 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Terra Nova Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth about $1,970,000. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 290,205 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $82,456,000 after purchasing an additional 2,507 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.