Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CEO Sells $89,532,411.35 in Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Nikesh Arora also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, January 6th, Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68.
• On Friday, January 3rd, Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $187.37 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.04 and a fifty-two week high of $207.24. The company has a market capitalization of $122.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $186.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $180.23.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,156,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $79,149,000 after buying an additional 32,626 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at $24,414,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $328,470,000 after acquiring an additional 4,400 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Loop Capital decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $217.50 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.85.

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.