Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Dipak Golechha Sells 5,000 Shares of Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $186.85 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $199.44 and its 200 day moving average is $196.96. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $223.61. The company has a market cap of $130.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.26, a PEG ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.79.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Winch Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 96.1% in the 3rd quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 149 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on PANW. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Mizuho set a $220.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. DA Davidson set a $240.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $230.00 target price (up from $225.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.20.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.