Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CEO Sells $39,281,220.22 in Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

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

• On Monday, February 3rd, Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35.
• On Monday, January 6th, Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total transaction 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 Down 7.0 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $153.57 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.83 and a 52-week high of $208.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.52, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $185.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $185.22.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after buying an additional 31,281,359 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,611,013,000 after acquiring an additional 6,725,148 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,427,048,000 after purchasing an additional 4,486,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,533,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Guggenheim downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Stephens assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $205.00 price target for the company. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.27.

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.