Key Points
- Director John Key sold 1,572 shares on April 8 at an average price of $173.32 for about $272,459, leaving him with 20,000 shares (a 7.29% reduction in his holdings, valued at roughly $3.47M).
- Quarterly results topped estimates: Palo Alto reported $1.03 EPS vs. $0.94 expected and $2.59B in revenue vs. $2.58B, with revenue up 14.9% year-over-year.
- Analyst/institutional support: The stock carries a MarketBeat "Moderate Buy" consensus with a $209.95 average target, and institutions own about 79.82% of shares, including large stakes from Vanguard and Norges Bank.
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) Director John Key sold 1,572 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.32, for a total value of $272,459.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,466,400. This trade represents a 7.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.
Palo Alto Networks Price Performance
Shares of PANW stock opened at $155.73 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $127.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 0.77. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $223.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $160.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.74.
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.Palo Alto Networks's quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several research analysts recently commented on the company. New Street Research reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Mizuho set a $200.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report 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 report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $200.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $209.95.
Get Our Latest Research Report on PANW
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $1,415,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% during the fourth 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. Employees Provident Fund Board bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $281,542,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $502,263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282,738 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
About Palo Alto Networks
(
Get Free Report)
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.
Further Reading
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