Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora Sells 176,242 Shares

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $195,596,176.16. This represents a 13.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

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

• 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.
• On Thursday, October 10th, Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $179.50 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $117.79 billion, a PE ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $191.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.20. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.04 and a twelve month high of $207.24.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $197.50 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $210.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $197.50 to $207.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.72.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after acquiring an additional 220,900 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,564,000 after buying an additional 255,060 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after buying an additional 1,050,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $757,321,000 after buying an additional 114,742 shares during the period. 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.