Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Sells $10,376,640.00 in Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total transaction of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,295,567 shares in the company, valued at $373,434,232.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $296.21 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $177.09 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84. The firm has a market cap of $95.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $285.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $293.25.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PANW. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Loop Capital downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Advisors Inc. OK grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 898 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 55.6% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 6,555 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,537,000 after acquiring an additional 2,343 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 35.8% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,914 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,558 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 40.5% during the 3rd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 1,663 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $390,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares during the period. Finally, NorthRock Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 1,080 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $253,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.