Insider Selling: Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Sells $10,376,640.00 in Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total value of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $373,434,232.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $296.21 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $177.09 and a 12 month high of $380.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $285.98 and its 200 day moving average is $293.70. The company has a market capitalization of $95.71 billion, a PE ratio of 46.28, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.18.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Northland Securities cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. now owns 2,463 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $726,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 204 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 233 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parisi Gray Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 1,519 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $448,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.