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 stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $802,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 150,250 shares in the company, valued at $24,103,105. The trade was a 3.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW remained flat at $163.21 during midday trading on Friday. The stock had a trading volume of 4,350,568 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,914,951. The company has a market cap of $133.18 billion, a PE ratio of 90.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.77. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $223.61. The business has a 50 day moving average of $162.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $186.38.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results 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. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Daiwa Securities Group reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $209.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.95.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,587,100,000 after buying an additional 594,789 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,568,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,776 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after purchasing an additional 540,756 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $1,415,364,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.