Insider Selling: Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Sells 120,774 Shares of Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.86, for a total transaction of $24,258,665.64. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 235,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,298,914.52. The trade was a 33.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Lee Klarich also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, June 4th, Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.14, for a total transaction of $23,567,838.36.
• On Monday, May 5th, Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total transaction of $22,858,894.98.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded down $13.99 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $192.07. 9,212,891 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,405,109. The firm has a market cap of $128.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.75, a P/E/G ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 0.97. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $195.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.79. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.01 and a 1 year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. TD Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. St. Clair Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,233,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. GSG Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,450 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,154,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 4,047 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $691,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during 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 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.