Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CEO Sells $43,170,393.44 in Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total transaction of $31,730,609.68.
• On Thursday, October 10th, Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.2 %

PANW opened at $175.51 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.04 and a 52-week high of $207.24. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $191.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $178.30. The company has a market cap of $115.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.85, a PEG ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on PANW. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. JMP Securities upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $207.50 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $222.50 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.72.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,213,073 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $174,124,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. 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.