Lee Klarich Sells 120,000 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $175.51 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.04 and a 52 week high of $207.24. The company has a market capitalization of $115.17 billion, a PE ratio of 22.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $191.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.30.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of several research reports. OTR Global reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $217.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $222.50 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 decreased their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.72.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.