Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 0.1% Following Insider Selling

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) was down 0.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $180.93 and last traded at $182.69. Approximately 1,421,928 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 5,920,387 shares. The stock had previously closed at $182.79.

Specifically, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. The trade was a 21.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on PANW. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. OTR Global reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 target price (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.85.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.3 %

The business has a fifty day moving average of $186.98 and a 200 day moving average of $180.23. The firm has a market cap of $122.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.79, a P/E/G ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 1.14.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.1% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 65,961 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $22,545,000 after purchasing an additional 4,392 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 21.8% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 4,561 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,559,000 after buying an additional 817 shares in the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 32.7% in the third quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 942 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 232 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 13.5% during the third quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 14,998 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Private Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth $1,647,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.