Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 2.9% on Insider Selling

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares dropped 2.9% during trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $173.18 and last traded at $174.35. Approximately 2,537,696 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 4,464,570 shares. The stock had previously closed at $179.50.

Specifically, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $195,596,176.16. This represents a 13.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $188.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $217.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.72.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.9 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $114.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.70, a PEG ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s 50 day moving average is $191.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $178.20.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

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

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.