Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 42,729 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 22% compared to the average daily volume of 34,968 call options.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW traded up $8.25 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $208.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,057,389 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,447,268. The company has a market cap of $136.67 billion, a PE ratio of 54.24, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $182.29. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $130.04 and a fifty-two week high of $208.35.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $268,851,000 after acquiring an additional 129,371 shares in the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at approximately $253,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,619 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 222.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,949 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.5% during the third quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,200 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,435,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, OTR Global reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.70.

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.