Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. Decreases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 23.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,640 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 1,698 shares during the quarter. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 6,725,148 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,533,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,841,359 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,324,387,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088,631 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock traded down $1.56 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $194.39. The company had a trading volume of 3,460,345 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,494,323. The company has a market capitalization of $129.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.03. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.14, for a total value of $23,567,838.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 264,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,564,964.44. This trade represents a 31.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.36, for a total value of $19,336,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,343,516 shares in the company, valued at $646,502,253.76. This trade represents a 2.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 789,736 shares of company stock worth $139,837,528 in the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $208.00.

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.