Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Palo Alto Networks Call Options (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders purchased 39,260 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 58% compared to the average volume of 24,861 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $217.50 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $217.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. OTR Global reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $195,596,176.16. The trade was a 13.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,030,906 shares of company stock worth $191,569,355. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tradewinds LLC. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $791,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the second quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $312,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. FLC Capital Advisors raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $119,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $175.51 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $115.17 billion, a PE ratio of 22.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $130.04 and a 52-week high of $207.24. The business’s fifty day moving average is $191.63 and its 200 day moving average is $178.30.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.