Nikesh Arora Sells 176,242 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total transaction of $31,730,609.68. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Nikesh Arora also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, January 3rd, Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44.
• On Thursday, October 10th, Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $175.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $115.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.85, a P/E/G ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $191.63 and its 200 day moving average is $178.30. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.04 and a 1-year high of $207.24.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen lifted their target price 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. HSBC lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $217.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised 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 note on Thursday, November 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.72.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,156,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% in the third quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $79,149,000 after buying an additional 32,626 shares during the period. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $24,414,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $67,232,000 after buying an additional 7,291 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.