Bearing Point Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 48,490 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Bearing Point Capital LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 48,490 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $8,823,000. Palo Alto Networks comprises about 1.8% of Bearing Point Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% in the 4th quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Abound Wealth Management grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% during the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.2 %

PANW traded down $0.46 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $188.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,712,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,749,692. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.71. The stock has a market cap of $124.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 106.05, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total value of $22,858,894.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 293,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,458,002.70. This represents a 29.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.06.

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.