Lee Klarich Sells 60,000 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total value of $20,698,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,854,924.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Lee Klarich also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, August 5th, Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total transaction of $17,755,800.00.
• On Monday, July 8th, Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total value of $42,165,110.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $335.82 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $335.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $310.09. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $224.64 and a one year high of $380.84. The company has a market capitalization of $108.74 billion, a PE ratio of 48.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,563,020,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,129,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,127 shares during the period. Axiom Investors LLC DE lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 359.3% in the 4th quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 957,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $282,406,000 after acquiring an additional 749,199 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth about $177,933,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $150,520,000 after purchasing an additional 444,100 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. DA Davidson upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $366.08.

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.