Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 1.2% After Insider Selling

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares fell 1.2% during mid-day trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $290.37 and last traded at $291.77. 1,189,200 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 5,264,509 shares. The stock had previously closed at $295.32.

Specifically, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at $46,659,063. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 158,917 shares of company stock worth $44,335,843 over the last three months. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $285.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $293.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.71 billion, a PE ratio of 46.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.18.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,563,020,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 29,086.9% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,057,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $606,854,000 after buying an additional 2,050,917 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,616,803 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $771,643,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187,915 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,129,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 359.3% in the fourth quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 957,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $282,406,000 after acquiring an additional 749,199 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.