Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock: Insider Aparna Bawa Sells 250 Shares

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Director Aparna Bawa sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.28, for a total transaction of $103,070.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,825,163.56. This trade represents a 5.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

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

• On Thursday, September 24th, Aparna Bawa sold 260 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $392.69, for a total transaction of $102,099.40.
• On Tuesday, September 15th, Aparna Bawa sold 500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.18, for a total transaction of $188,590.00.
• 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 value of $373,610.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $20.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $418.78. 3,833,698 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,141,086. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $432.33. The business’s 50-day moving average is $370.88 and its 200-day moving average is $293.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $342.56 billion, a PE ratio of 821.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.47 and a beta of 0.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. 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 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $25,833,462,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $1,968,304,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,569,755,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $1,481,236,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,603,473,000 after purchasing an additional 3,101,267 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on PANW. HSBC reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $201.00 to $190.00 in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $375.00 target price (up from $370.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Scotiabank cut Palo Alto Networks from a “sector outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Palo Alto Networks from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Thirty-eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $391.32.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides solutions designed to help organizations protect networks, endpoints, cloud environments, applications and users from cyber threats. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud-delivered security services, secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, endpoint protection and security operations tools.

The company also provides platforms and services for cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response, vulnerability management and the automation of security operations.