Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Director Sells $940,075.00 in Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Director John Key sold 2,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total transaction of $940,075.00. Following the sale, the director owned 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,300. The trade was a 20.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $363.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $297.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 712.92, a P/E/G ratio of 10.82 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $352.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $268.99. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $398.88.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,833,462,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,415,364,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,968,304,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,569,755,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,481,236,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $375.00 price target (up from $370.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Citigroup lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $434.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $355.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $389.68.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides security products and services to businesses, governments and other organizations worldwide. The company helps customers protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, applications and connected devices from cyber threats.

Its portfolio includes next-generation firewalls and network security technologies, as well as cloud-delivered security solutions such as Prisma Access and Prisma Cloud. Palo Alto Networks also offers Cortex products for endpoint protection, security operations, threat detection and response, and automation.