Insider Selling: Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CAO Sells 600 Shares of Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) CAO Josh D. Paul sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.00, for a total value of $122,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 41,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,452,332. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded up $4.53 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $201.50. The company had a trading volume of 2,561,725 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,385,172. The stock has a market capitalization of $134.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.14, a PEG ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 0.97. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $192.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.45. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $142.01 and a one year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. HSBC upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,775,544 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $10,712,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,541,637 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,611,013,000 after buying an additional 6,725,148 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,533,419,000 after buying an additional 3,841,359 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,427,048,000 after purchasing an additional 4,486,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,324,387,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088,631 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

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.

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