Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Nir Zuk Sells 36,000 Shares

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total value of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,295,567 shares in the company, valued at $373,434,232.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.3 %

PANW opened at $296.21 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $177.09 and a twelve month high of $380.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.71 billion, a PE ratio of 46.28, a PEG ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $285.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $293.01.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 169.2% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 22,292 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,334,000 after purchasing an additional 14,011 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.7% during the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 272,853 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $77,387,000 after purchasing an additional 74,761 shares during the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,132 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 19.3% in the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,503 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $428,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.3% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,367 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,809,000 after buying an additional 844 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on PANW. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $290.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Capital One Financial cut Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $302.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Mizuho decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Northland Securities cut Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.82.

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.