Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) CAO Josh Paul Sells 400 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Insider sale: Chief Accounting Officer Josh Paul sold 400 Palo Alto Networks shares for approximately $158,280, reducing his direct ownership by 0.51% to 77,987 shares.
• Strong operating results: Palo Alto Networks reported quarterly revenue of $3.41 billion, up 34.5% year over year, and earnings per share of $1.02, exceeding analysts’ $0.98 estimate.
• Positive market outlook: Shares traded near their 52-week high at $406.76, while analysts maintained a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $391.32.

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) CAO Josh Paul sold 400 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $395.70, for a total transaction of $158,280.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 77,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,859,455.90. This represents a 0.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW traded up $3.52 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $406.76. The company had a trading volume of 4,445,816 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,326,751. The company has a market capitalization of $332.73 billion, a PE ratio of 797.58, a P/E/G ratio of 11.61 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 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $409.50. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $362.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $285.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. 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. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $390.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $475.00 price objective (up from $420.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, August 17th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Argus restated a "buy" rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Thirty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $391.32.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $65,796,000 after purchasing an additional 53,485 shares during the period. Aviva PLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $104,774,000 after buying an additional 29,230 shares during the period. B&D White Capital Company LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth about $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% during the 1st quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,453,000 after acquiring an additional 4,659 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

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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