Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.07 EPS

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) issued its earnings results on Monday. The network technology company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.07, Briefing.com reports. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks updated its Q4 guidance to $1.40-1.42 EPS.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $308.58 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $99.92 billion, a PE ratio of 44.85, a P/E/G ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $289.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $299.07. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $188.83 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $360.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Loop Capital lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $365.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Northland Securities lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $317.45.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total transaction of $17,059,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at $56,327,194.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 280,193 shares of company stock worth $80,670,132 in the last ninety days. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.