Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Palo Alto Networks Call Options (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders purchased 36,704 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 30% compared to the typical daily volume of 28,141 call options.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total transaction of $31,730,609.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $195,596,176.16. The trade was a 13.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 867,734 shares of company stock valued at $161,546,523. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 88.9% in the fourth quarter. Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,422 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,716,000 after buying an additional 9,613 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 105.0% in the 4th quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,382 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,220 shares during the period. Liberty Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 101.0% in the 4th quarter. Liberty Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,234 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,590,000 after purchasing an additional 7,153 shares during the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 97.4% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 1,005 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $183,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthstar Advisors LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $1,926,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded up $3.64 on Tuesday, hitting $192.94. The stock had a trading volume of 8,748,099 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,276,781. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $188.20 and its 200-day moving average is $179.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.24, a P/E/G ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $130.04 and a 52-week high of $207.24.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PANW. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $188.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.85.

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.