Alpha Cubed Investments LLC Acquires 12,628 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Alpha Cubed Investments LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 2.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 480,092 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 12,628 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for 3.7% of Alpha Cubed Investments LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Palo Alto Networks worth $81,923,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $11,142,122,000 after buying an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,611,013,000 after buying an additional 6,725,148 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,427,048,000 after acquiring an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,533,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.86, for a total value of $24,258,665.64. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 235,482 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,298,914.52. This trade represents a 33.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total transaction of $160,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 42,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,450,734.65. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 669,248 shares of company stock worth $127,820,829 in the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on PANW. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. TD Securities restated a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Stephens lowered Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. HSBC upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded down $13.99 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $192.07. The company had a trading volume of 9,212,891 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,399,801. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The stock's 50 day moving average is $194.93 and its 200-day moving average is $185.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $128.07 billion, a PE ratio of 109.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. Palo Alto Networks's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.