Aurora Private Wealth Inc. Buys Shares of 11,543 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Aurora Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 11,543 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,970,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during 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 buying an additional 6,725,148 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,427,048,000 after acquiring an additional 4,486,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised 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 acquiring an additional 3,841,359 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $201.69 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The stock has a market cap of $134.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.25, a P/E/G ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $188.66 and a 200 day moving average of $185.20.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on PANW. Guggenheim reissued a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. HSBC upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $208.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total value of $1,009,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 101,135 shares in the company, valued at $20,414,099.75. This represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total transaction of $160,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 42,033 shares in the company, valued at $8,450,734.65. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 795,536 shares of company stock worth $141,007,618 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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