Insider Selling: Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Sells 120,774 Shares of Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total value of $23,177,738.34. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 327,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,878,351.95. The trade was a 26.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Lee Klarich also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, November 3rd, Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total value of $26,321,485.56.
• On Monday, October 6th, Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.92, for a total value of $25,594,426.08.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded up $2.05 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $195.68. The stock had a trading volume of 4,158,653 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,216,786. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.39 billion, a PE ratio of 123.85, a PEG ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $206.19 and its 200 day moving average is $197.21. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.15 and a twelve month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Winch Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 96.1% during the third quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 149 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 price target (up previously from $236.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Northland Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.09.

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.