Insider Selling: Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) CAO Sells $158,280.00 in Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CAO Josh Paul sold 400 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $395.70, for a total value of $158,280.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 77,987 shares in the company, valued at $30,859,455.90. This represents a 0.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.9%

PANW traded up $3.52 during trading on Monday, reaching $406.76. The stock had a trading volume of 4,445,816 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,326,751. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market capitalization of $332.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 797.58, a P/E/G ratio of 11.61 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $362.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $285.61. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $409.50.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. 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, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% in the third quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 16,615 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,602,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% during the third quarter. Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,039 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,399,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at $572,000. Miller Global Investments LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 406.7% in the 3rd quarter. Miller Global Investments LLC now owns 456 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $181,000 after buying an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Financial Corp raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp now owns 688 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PANW. Capital One Financial lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $421.00 to $428.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $420.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $391.32.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides solutions designed to help organizations protect networks, endpoints, cloud environments, applications and users from cyber threats. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud-delivered security services, secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, endpoint protection and security operations tools.

The company also provides platforms and services for cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response, vulnerability management and the automation of security operations.