Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora Sells 235,492 Shares

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Nikesh Arora also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, January 6th, Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68.
• On Thursday, October 10th, Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $30,022,832.14.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded down $3.75 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $179.50. The stock had a trading volume of 7,104,380 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,307,088. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.04 and a twelve month high of $207.24. The firm has a market cap of $117.79 billion, a PE ratio of 23.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $191.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.03.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. The business's revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tradewinds LLC. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $791,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $312,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% during the third quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,379,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $357,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Guggenheim lowered Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $195.00 to $215.00 in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.72.

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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