Palo Alto Networks Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 42,729 call options on the company. This is an increase of 22% compared to the typical volume of 34,968 call options.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $208.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.24, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $130.04 and a 52-week high of $208.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $186.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $182.29.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on PANW. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, OTR Global reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $268,851,000 after purchasing an additional 129,371 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth approximately $253,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $36,316,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 222.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,949 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.5% during the third quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,200 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,435,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. 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.