Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 2.9% Following Insider Selling

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) were down 2.9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $173.18 and last traded at $174.35. Approximately 2,537,696 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 4,464,570 shares. The stock had previously closed at $179.50.

Specifically, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total transaction of $31,730,609.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $195,596,176.16. This represents a 13.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. OTR Global reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $188.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.29.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.5 %

The company’s 50-day moving average is $191.49 and its 200-day moving average is $178.27. The firm has a market cap of $113.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Legacy Private Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 154.6% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. now owns 12,268 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,232,000 after purchasing an additional 7,449 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 115.6% during the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 5,886 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,071,000 after buying an additional 3,156 shares during the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 144.3% during the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 8,957 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,630,000 after buying an additional 5,290 shares in the last quarter. Park National Corp OH lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 79.6% in the 4th quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 178,206 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,426,000 after acquiring an additional 78,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norway Savings Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 94.9% during the 4th quarter. Norway Savings Bank now owns 30,606 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,569,000 after acquiring an additional 14,905 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.