Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 0.3%

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price dropped 0.3% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $321.40 and last traded at $323.71. Approximately 537,943 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 4,429,475 shares. The stock had previously closed at $324.73.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $364.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $327.00 to $334.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $336.00 to $348.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Macquarie boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $325.59.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $321.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $312.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.42, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total transaction of $42,165,110.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,791,570. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total transaction of $42,165,110.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,791,570. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.92, for a total transaction of $497,517.32. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 20,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,292,166.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 428,591 shares of company stock worth $137,275,079 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. now owns 2,463 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $726,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 204 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% during the second quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,110 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $376,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,527 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $450,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.