Palo Alto Networks Stock Scheduled to Split on Monday, December 16th (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock is going to split before the market opens on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly created shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $387.82 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $127.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.50, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $260.09 and a 1-year high of $408.53. The company has a 50 day moving average of $369.36 and a 200-day moving average of $342.42.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during 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 business’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $402.03.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 168,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $387.39, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,821,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. This represents a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 412,252 shares of company stock worth $150,638,257 in the last three months. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth about $25,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.