Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Sells $21,564,000.00 in Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $172.83 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $191.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.23. The company has a market capitalization of $113.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50, a P/E/G ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.04 and a fifty-two week high of $207.24.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective (down previously from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $188.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.29.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after acquiring an additional 220,900 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,099,564,000 after purchasing an additional 255,060 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $757,321,000 after purchasing an additional 114,742 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by 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.