Avantax Planning Partners Inc. Buys New Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Avantax Planning Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,429 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $585,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 90.6% in the 1st quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 12,412 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,144,000 after purchasing an additional 5,899 shares in the last quarter. Sitrin Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Sitrin Capital Management LLC now owns 30,690 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $5,237,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. MBA Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. MBA Advisors LLC now owns 2,297 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $392,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Conning Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 3,175 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $542,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aurora Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,970,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of several research reports. Guggenheim reiterated a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating 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 note 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, Barclays lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two equities 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 company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.3%

NASDAQ:PANW traded up $4.53 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $201.50. 2,561,725 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,403,583. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The business has a 50-day moving average of $193.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.42. The company has a market capitalization of $134.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.14, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total transaction of $1,009,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 101,135 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,414,099.75. This represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.66, for a total value of $19,866,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,243,516 shares in the company, valued at $644,356,888.56. This trade represents a 2.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 668,722 shares of company stock worth $121,714,798 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

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.