Insider Selling: Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CEO Sells 66,666 Shares of Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total transaction of $22,865,104.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 639,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,505,142.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Nikesh Arora also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, July 1st, Nikesh Arora sold 66,668 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.54, for a total transaction of $22,436,448.72.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW traded down $7.92 during trading on Friday, reaching $335.82. 2,366,532 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,328,734. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $224.64 and a 1 year high of $380.84. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $335.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $310.69. The company has a market capitalization of $108.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.07, a P/E/G ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,563,020,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,058,127 shares during the period. Axiom Investors LLC DE lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 359.3% during the fourth quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 957,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $282,406,000 after purchasing an additional 749,199 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $177,933,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $150,520,000 after purchasing an additional 444,100 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $334.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $366.08.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.