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

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock traded down $1.60 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $186.85. 2,610,189 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,169,835. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $199.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $197.03. The company has a market cap of $130.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.79. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.15 and a 1-year high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.56 earnings per share. On average, 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

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 29.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,155 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,547,000 after buying an additional 7,301 shares in the last quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% during the first quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $457,279,000 after acquiring an additional 163,718 shares during the last quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% during the 2nd quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531 shares during the period. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4,524.0% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 547,944 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $112,131,000 after purchasing an additional 536,094 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up previously from $236.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. New Street Research lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $220.00 target price (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.