Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Sells $940,900.00 in Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.8%

PANW stock traded down $1.60 during trading on Monday, hitting $186.85. 2,610,189 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,169,835. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 118.26, a PEG ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.79. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $199.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $197.03.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Winch Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 96.1% in the third quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 149 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. HSBC lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $240.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.20.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next?generation firewalls as a core on?premises capability, alongside cloud?delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.