Insider Selling: Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Sells $21,564,000.00 in Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $172.83 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $191.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $178.23. The stock has a market cap of $113.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50, a PEG ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.04 and a twelve month high of $207.24.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on PANW. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $197.50 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $210.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, OTR Global reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.29.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in 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 raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,249,594 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 255,060 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $757,321,000 after purchasing an additional 114,742 shares in 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.