Insider Selling: Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Sells 60,000 Shares of Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total transaction of $17,755,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $47,055,533.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Lee Klarich also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, July 8th, Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total transaction of $42,165,110.00.
• On Thursday, June 6th, Lee Klarich sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.21, for a total transaction of $240,168.00.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $2.28 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $304.21. 3,564,255 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,428,755. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $201.17 and a 1 year high of $380.84. The business has a 50-day moving average of $321.07 and a 200-day moving average of $311.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.25, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $350.00 to $325.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Macquarie boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $325.59.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,118,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,239 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $1,563,020,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,136,547 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $924,905,000 after purchasing an additional 30,013 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $799,792,000 after purchasing an additional 198,078 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,746,971 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $515,147,000 after purchasing an additional 84,151 shares during 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.