Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 1.2% After Insider Selling

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price traded down 1.2% on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $367.40 and last traded at $370.00. 229,086 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 94% from the average session volume of 4,047,283 shares. The stock had previously closed at $374.44.

Specifically, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PANW. BTIG Research upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 16th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $373.28.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $347.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $322.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.80 billion, a PE ratio of 54.67, a P/E/G ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,118,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,239 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $150,520,000 after buying an additional 444,100 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,564,000 after buying an additional 255,060 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $799,792,000 after buying an additional 198,078 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.