Insider Selling: Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CEO Sells 30,000 Shares of Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Rating) CEO Nikesh Arora sold 30,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.51, for a total transaction of $6,255,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,092,959 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,892,881.09. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

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

• On Monday, April 17th, Nikesh Arora sold 13,800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.42, for a total transaction of $2,779,596.00.
• On Friday, March 31st, Nikesh Arora sold 16,200 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.08, for a total transaction of $3,241,296.00.
• On Friday, March 3rd, Nikesh Arora sold 6,651 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.74, for a total transaction of $1,275,262.74.
• On Monday, February 27th, Nikesh Arora sold 20,849 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.06, for a total transaction of $4,004,258.94.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $3.72 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $211.70. The company had a trading volume of 6,334,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,319,228. The company has a market capitalization of $64.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 341.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.41 and a beta of 1.17. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $192.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.00. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.22 and a 1-year high of $217.05.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 21st. The network technology company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 69.46%. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JNBA Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 200.0% in the third quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors now owns 150 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 200.0% in the third quarter. Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. American National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 600.0% in the first quarter. American National Bank now owns 126 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2,950.0% in the fourth quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 183 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, May 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $250.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $213.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $232.19.

About Palo Alto Networks

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Palo Alto Networks, Inc engages in the provision of network security solutions to enterprises, service providers, and government entities. It operates through the following geographical segments: the United States, Israel, and Other Countries. The company was founded by Nir Zuk in March 2005 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA.