Westpac Banking Corp Sells 2,229 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Key Points

• Westpac Banking Corp has decreased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.1%, selling 2,229 shares and holding a total of 12,541 shares valued at $2.14 million.
• Insider transactions include Nir Zuk, EVP, selling 100,000 shares for approximately $17.3 million, reducing his position by 3.08%.
• Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with a consensus price target of $217.52.

Westpac Banking Corp decreased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 15.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,541 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 2,229 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,140,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,230,000 after buying an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 115.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 43,985 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $8,004,000 after buying an additional 23,586 shares during the period. Bragg Financial Advisors Inc lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Bragg Financial Advisors Inc now owns 1,440 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $262,000 after buying an additional 720 shares during the period. Mariner LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 110.6% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 554,578 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $100,932,000 after buying an additional 291,219 shares during the period. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 96.1% during the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 19,672 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,580,000 after buying an additional 9,640 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on PANW. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Stephens lowered Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group set a $185.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $496.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $217.52.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $1.46 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $176.86. 11,932,780 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,553,770. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $192.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $186.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.06, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $210.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.14, for a total transaction of $23,567,838.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 264,246 shares of the company's stock, valued at $51,564,964.44. The trade was a 31.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $99,940.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,640,080. The trade was a 5.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 669,248 shares of company stock worth $126,423,337. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.