Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) CAO Josh Paul Sells 700 Shares

Key Points

• Palo Alto Networks' Chief Accounting Officer, Josh Paul, sold 700 shares at an average price of $184.20, totaling $128,940, which reduced his ownership stake by 1.82%.
• The company's latest quarterly earnings report showed $0.95 EPS, exceeding expectations, with a 15.8% year-over-year revenue increase to $2.54 billion.
• Analyst coverage indicates strong confidence in Palo Alto Networks, with an average price target of $211.52 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from 28 analysts.

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) CAO Josh Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.20, for a total transaction of $128,940.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 37,723 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,948,576.60. The trade was a 1.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded up $2.56 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $185.88. 6,857,205 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,479,529. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $190.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $186.31. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.15 and a 1-year high of $210.39. The firm has a market cap of $123.94 billion, a PE ratio of 115.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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 issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Bank of America raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $215.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Twenty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.52.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Stance Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $1,357,000. Cim Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 99.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,330 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,996,000 after buying an additional 5,158 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $336,000. North Dallas Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,400,000. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,870,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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