Josh D. Paul Sells 800 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total value of $160,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 42,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,450,734.65. This trade represents a 1.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded up $4.08 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $203.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,464,217 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,440,704. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.18, a PEG ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $187.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $185.08. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. HSBC upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $156.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 150 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 102.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.