Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Palo Alto Networks Call Options (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders purchased 39,260 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 58% compared to the typical daily volume of 24,861 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $222.50 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. HSBC lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and cut their target price for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.72.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $195,596,176.16. This represents a 13.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 910,906 shares of company stock worth $170,005,355. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 48,544 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $16,457,000 after acquiring an additional 849 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 16.2% during the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 5,938 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,013,000 after buying an additional 826 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.6% in the second quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 2,748 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $932,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $225,000. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 27.3% during the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 1,845 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $625,000 after buying an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $179.50 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $191.78 and its 200 day moving average is $178.20. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $130.04 and a one year high of $207.24. The firm has a market cap of $117.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.37, a PEG ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.