Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 1.6% - Here's What Happened

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) shares were up 1.6% on Monday . The company traded as high as $190.30 and last traded at $190.40. Approximately 1,631,551 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 5,445,666 shares. The stock had previously closed at $187.39.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Northland Securities cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Roth Capital initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $195.04 and a 200-day moving average of $185.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.84, a PEG ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total transaction of $1,009,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 101,135 shares in the company, valued at $20,414,099.75. This trade represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.66, for a total transaction of $19,866,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 3,243,516 shares in the company, valued at $644,356,888.56. The trade was a 2.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 569,248 shares of company stock valued at $111,279,829 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,611,013,000 after acquiring an additional 6,725,148 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $970,736,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth $810,047,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,427,048,000 after acquiring an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. 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.

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