Nikesh Arora Purchases 68,085 Shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora bought 68,085 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,434,276.78. The trade was a 24.73% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $147.02 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $164.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $187.43. The company has a market capitalization of $119.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.23, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.78. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $223.61.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. UBS Group set a $183.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. HSBC reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $157.00 to $114.00 in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Arete Research upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.19.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stance Capital LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Stance Capital LLC now owns 7,340 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,352,000 after purchasing an additional 494 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,766,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 982,633 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $181,001,000 after buying an additional 37,083 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 26,959 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,966,000 after buying an additional 4,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers National Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $229,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.