Palo Alto Networks Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 36,704 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 30% compared to the typical daily volume of 28,141 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on PANW. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. OTR Global reaffirmed a "negative" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $205.00 price objective on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $200.85.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW traded down $3.00 on Friday, reaching $184.42. 4,824,005 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,677,994. The stock has a market cap of $121.02 billion, a PE ratio of 48.03, a P/E/G ratio of 5.30 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $130.04 and a twelve month high of $207.24. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $187.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $179.74.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 867,734 shares of company stock valued at $161,546,523 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 49,363 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $16,735,000 after buying an additional 1,305 shares during the period. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 99,020 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $33,569,000 after purchasing an additional 5,077 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 223,328 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $75,710,000 after purchasing an additional 19,117 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 23.5% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 49,608 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $16,818,000 after purchasing an additional 9,446 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,935 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $656,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

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.