Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 6.7% After Insider Selling

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares dropped 6.7% during mid-day trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $151.28 and last traded at $155.73. Approximately 15,550,665 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 49% from the average daily volume of 10,403,912 shares. The stock had previously closed at $166.99.

Specifically, Director John P. Key sold 1,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.32, for a total transaction of $272,459.04. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,466,400. This trade represents a 7.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective (down from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, December 29th. HSBC cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $157.00 to $114.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.95.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $127.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.04, a PEG ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50 day moving average of $160.61 and a 200-day moving average of $184.74.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The company had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.81 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after buying an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after buying an additional 3,275 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $713,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the period. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.6% in the second quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 2,360 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $483,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Glenview Trust co lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the second quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 9,772 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,000,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.