Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Director Sells $940,075.00 in Stock

Key Points

• Director John Key sold 2,500 Palo Alto Networks shares at an average price of $376.03, generating $940,075 and reducing his ownership by 20% to 10,000 shares.
• PANW shares traded around $375.65, near their 52-week high, while the company reported quarterly EPS and revenue above analyst expectations; revenue rose 34.5% year over year.
• Analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $387.60, and institutional investors own approximately 79.82% of the company.

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) Director John Key sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total value of $940,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 10,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,760,300. The trade was a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of PANW traded up $0.56 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $375.65. The company had a trading volume of 5,239,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,483,044. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $398.88. The stock has a market cap of $307.28 billion, a PE ratio of 736.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $350.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $265.14. 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 (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. The company'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 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 90.1% in the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 325 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the period. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $382,000. Bullseye Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Marathon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% during the second quarter. Marathon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,115 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $4,472,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the period. Finally, Bouchey Financial Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the second quarter. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd. now owns 2,664 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $908,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $430.00 price target (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $390.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Roth Capital reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $300.00 target price (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Capital One Financial increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $421.00 to $428.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $387.60.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides security products and services to businesses, governments and other organizations worldwide. The company helps customers protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, applications and connected devices from cyber threats.

Its portfolio includes next-generation firewalls and network security technologies, as well as cloud-delivered security solutions such as Prisma Access and Prisma Cloud. Palo Alto Networks also offers Cortex products for endpoint protection, security operations, threat detection and response, and automation.

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