Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Director Aparna Bawa Sells 250 Shares of Company Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Director Aparna Bawa sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $412.28, for a total transaction of $103,070.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,825,163.56. This represents a 5.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Aparna Bawa also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, September 24th, Aparna Bawa sold 260 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.69, for a total transaction of $102,099.40.
• On Tuesday, September 15th, Aparna Bawa sold 500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.18, for a total value of $188,590.00.
• On Monday, September 14th, Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total value of $373,610.00.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $418.78 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $342.56 billion, a PE ratio of 821.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.47 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $370.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $293.25. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $432.33.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Arete Research upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. DA Davidson increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Benchmark raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Thirty-eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $391.32.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 12.8% during the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 1,599 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $635,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. Oak Grove Capital LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,761,000. Atlas Brown Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 12.4% in the third quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 945 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $375,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Mirador Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the third quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 50,406 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $20,027,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GK Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides solutions designed to help organizations protect networks, endpoints, cloud environments, applications and users from cyber threats. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud-delivered security services, secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, endpoint protection and security operations tools.

The company also provides platforms and services for cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response, vulnerability management and the automation of security operations.