Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,530 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $278,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 906 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $165,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 70.3% during the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abound Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% during the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Citigroup lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.06.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $1.10 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $190.90. The stock had a trading volume of 5,443,725 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,735,127. The company has a market capitalization of $126.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.55, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $176.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $184.90. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.01 and a 52 week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total value of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 321,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690 in the last three months. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

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.