Insider Selling: Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Director Sells $188,590.00 in Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Director Aparna Bawa sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.18, for a total value of $188,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,937 shares in the company, valued at $1,862,137.66. The trade was a 9.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Aparna Bawa also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, September 14th, Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total transaction of $373,610.00.
• On Wednesday, July 1st, Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total transaction of $101,134.60.
• On Monday, June 29th, Aparna Bawa sold 632 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.67, for a total transaction of $201,399.44.
• On Monday, June 22nd, Aparna Bawa sold 345 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.17, for a total transaction of $100,108.65.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $363.58 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $398.88. The stock has a market cap of $297.41 billion, a PE ratio of 712.92, a P/E/G ratio of 10.82 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a 50-day moving average of $352.93 and a 200 day moving average of $268.99.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.95 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. FBN Securities reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $390.00 price objective (up from $371.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Arete Research boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $475.00 price target (up from $420.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Thirty-eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $389.68.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $65,796,000 after purchasing an additional 53,485 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $104,774,000 after buying an additional 29,230 shares during the period. B&D White Capital Company LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the 1st quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after buying an additional 4,659 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides security products and services to businesses, governments and other organizations worldwide. The company helps customers protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, applications and connected devices from cyber threats.

Its portfolio includes next-generation firewalls and network security technologies, as well as cloud-delivered security solutions such as Prisma Access and Prisma Cloud. Palo Alto Networks also offers Cortex products for endpoint protection, security operations, threat detection and response, and automation.