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

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 the SEC website.

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 Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $179.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $117.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.37, a PEG ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50 day moving average of $191.78 and a 200-day moving average of $178.20. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.04 and a 12-month high of $207.24.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on PANW. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $197.50 to $207.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.72.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213,073 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $174,124,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $150,520,000 after purchasing an additional 444,100 shares in the last quarter. 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.