AE Wealth Management LLC Buys 3,874 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

AE Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 16.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 27,165 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,874 shares during the quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,635,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% during the fourth quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,378 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,226 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,125 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,410,000 after buying an additional 1,374 shares during the period. Diligent Investors LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 3,430 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $624,000 after buying an additional 1,715 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 137,663 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $23,491,000 after buying an additional 10,180 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded up $2.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $203.27. 3,457,359 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,288,193. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $196.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $186.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.54 billion, a PE ratio of 116.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.01 and a 12 month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on PANW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Stephens lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. HSBC raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $209.42.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $99,940.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,640,080. This represents a 5.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.66, for a total transaction of $19,866,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,243,516 shares in the company, valued at $644,356,888.56. This represents a 2.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 569,248 shares of company stock valued at $111,279,829. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

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.