Palo Alto Networks Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors acquired 39,260 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 58% compared to the typical daily volume of 24,861 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $217.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $217.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. HSBC cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,237,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.9 %

NASDAQ:PANW traded down $5.37 on Monday, reaching $177.88. 4,227,171 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,296,901. The firm has a market cap of $116.72 billion, a PE ratio of 23.16, a P/E/G ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.03. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $130.04 and a 12 month high of $207.24.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

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.