Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) CAO Sells $141,512.00 in Stock

Key Points

• Josh Paul, the Chief Accounting Officer of Palo Alto Networks, sold 700 shares for a total of $141,512, reducing his ownership by 2.11% to 32,474 shares.
• Palo Alto Networks reported a 15.8% year-over-year revenue increase, with a revenue of $2.54 billion and an EPS of $0.95, exceeding expectations.
• Research analysts have assigned Palo Alto Networks a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a price target of $214.64, reflecting strong confidence in the company's performance and future growth.

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) CAO Josh Paul sold 700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.16, for a total value of $141,512.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 32,474 shares in the company, valued at $6,564,943.84. This trade represents a 2.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW traded up $2.50 on Thursday, reaching $209.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,946,480 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,373,628. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $210.39. The business's 50 day moving average is $189.95 and its 200 day moving average is $187.87. The stock has a market cap of $140.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 130.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.98.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The business's revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. 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 forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth about $31,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on PANW shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $207.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Thirty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $214.64.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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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