Insider Selling: Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Sells 36,000 Shares of Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.16, for a total value of $12,209,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,223,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $414,984,983.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Nir Zuk also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, June 3rd, Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.31, for a total transaction of $10,559,160.00.
• On Wednesday, May 1st, Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total transaction of $10,376,640.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock traded up $0.76 on Wednesday, reaching $341.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,022,400 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,774,639. The firm has a market cap of $110.48 billion, a PE ratio of 49.57, a PEG ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $309.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $307.63. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $201.17 and a 12-month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $1,563,020,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29,086.9% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,057,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $606,854,000 after acquiring an additional 2,050,917 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 83.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,616,803 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $771,643,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187,915 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,129,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 359.3% in the fourth quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 957,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $282,406,000 after purchasing an additional 749,199 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on PANW. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $365.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Macquarie lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $364.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $336.00 to $348.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $360.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $326.29.

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.