Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 2.5% Following Insider Selling

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) traded down 2.5% on Thursday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $167.10 and last traded at $168.65. 1,149,405 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 5,890,258 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.02.

Specifically, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total value of $18,252,574.62. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on PANW. BTIG Research downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, February 10th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. HSBC raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $156.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.52.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.83. The firm has a market cap of $110.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.06, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,977 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $676,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 322 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtue Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the third quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 1,690 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $578,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.