Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora Sells 846,408 Shares of Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. This trade represents a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.3%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $200.70 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $134.25 billion, a PE ratio of 125.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 0.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $210.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $189.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $186.99.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 4,031 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 115.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 43,985 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,004,000 after acquiring an additional 23,586 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,275 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 86.6% during the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 227,913 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $41,471,000 after acquiring an additional 105,766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 98.0% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 85,437 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $15,546,000 after acquiring an additional 42,277 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. KeyCorp cut Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. New Street Research upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $212.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Twenty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $212.39.

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.