Insider Selling: Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Director Sells $103,070.00 in Stock

Key Points

• Palo Alto Networks director Aparna Bawa sold 250 shares for $103,070, reducing her holdings by 5.35% to 4,427 shares. The sale follows three additional transactions in September totaling approximately $664,299.
• PANW shares rose to $418.78, near the company’s 12-month high of $432.33, while the stock’s valuation remained elevated with a price-to-earnings ratio of 821.15.
• The company exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $1.02 in EPS and $3.41 billion in revenue, up 34.5% year over year. Analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating, with 38 Buy ratings and 12 Holds.

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) Director Aparna Bawa sold 250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $412.28, for a total transaction of $103,070.00. Following the sale, the director owned 4,427 shares in the company, valued at $1,825,163.56. The trade was a 5.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Aparna Bawa also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, September 24th, Aparna Bawa sold 260 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.69, for a total transaction of $102,099.40.
• On Tuesday, September 15th, Aparna Bawa sold 500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.18, for a total value of $188,590.00.
• On Monday, September 14th, Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total value of $373,610.00.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW traded up $20.28 during trading on Friday, reaching $418.78. 3,833,698 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,141,086. The company's 50-day moving average is $370.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $293.25. The company has a market cap of $342.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 821.15, a P/E/G ratio of 11.47 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $432.33.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Truist Financial set a $400.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. DA Davidson raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "sector outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $391.32.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Grove Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.0% in the third quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 472 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $188,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% during the third quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 1,285 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 2,127 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $725,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,206 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,093,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orrstown Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,197 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,090,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides solutions designed to help organizations protect networks, endpoints, cloud environments, applications and users from cyber threats. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud-delivered security services, secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, endpoint protection and security operations tools.

The company also provides platforms and services for cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response, vulnerability management and the automation of security operations.

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