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

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Rating) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 75,084 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 144% compared to the average volume of 30,748 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.82, for a total value of $8,361,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 612,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,860,275.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.82, for a total value of $8,361,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 612,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,860,275.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 13,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.42, for a total transaction of $2,779,596.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,177,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $237,110,214.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 268,880 shares of company stock valued at $50,764,796. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 150.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,223,780 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,148,664,000 after purchasing an additional 11,544,319 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $751,276,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 171.2% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,434,431 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $398,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,536,744 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $204,728,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 199.5% during the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,197,356 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $359,905,000 after acquiring an additional 1,463,568 shares during the last quarter. 81.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $204.31 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $192.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 2,786.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.09 and a beta of 1.17. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $132.22 and a one year high of $207.38.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 21st. The network technology company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.62% and a net margin of 0.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, Capital One Financial initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, May 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $247.00 price objective for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $232.19.

About Palo Alto Networks

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Palo Alto Networks, Inc engages in the provision of network security solutions to enterprises, service providers, and government entities. It operates through the following geographical segments: the United States, Israel, and Other Countries. The company was founded by Nir Zuk in March 2005 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA.