Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 16,228 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $2,769,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,230,000 after buying an additional 4,031 shares during the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 126.1% during the 4th quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,176 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $760,000 after buying an additional 2,329 shares during the last quarter. Roanoke Asset Management Corp NY grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Roanoke Asset Management Corp NY now owns 1,530 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $278,000 after buying an additional 765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,706 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 853 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Northland Securities lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Roth Capital assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research 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 assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $208.00.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.14, for a total transaction of $23,567,838.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 264,246 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $51,564,964.44. The trade was a 31.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,038.83. The trade was a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded down $1.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $196.27. 3,815,861 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,484,807. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.01 and a 1 year high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $130.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.58, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50 day moving average of $184.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.06.

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

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.