Nikesh Arora Sells 490,723 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Nikesh Arora also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, January 6th, Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68.
• On Friday, January 3rd, Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $187.37 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.04 and a fifty-two week high of $207.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.23. The company has a market cap of $122.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of several analyst reports. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $217.50 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Hsbc Global Res cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.85.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,156,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% in the third quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $79,149,000 after purchasing an additional 32,626 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $24,414,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $328,470,000 after buying an additional 4,400 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.