Insider Selling: Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) CAO Sells 800 Shares of Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CAO Josh Paul sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW traded up $3.74 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $185.86. 5,951,915 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,480,662. The company has a market cap of $129.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.76. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $196.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $196.40.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Winch Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 96.1% during the 3rd quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 149 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $220.00 target price (down from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. HSBC downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $227.06.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.