Banque Pictet & Cie SA Purchases 3,681 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA raised its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 7.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 56,111 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,681 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $9,575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 150 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on PANW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Guggenheim restated a "sell" rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Northland Securities cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report 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 issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 6.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded down $13.99 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $192.07. The stock had a trading volume of 9,212,891 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,405,109. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.01 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $195.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.79. The company has a market cap of $128.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 109.75, a PEG ratio of 5.75 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The business's revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities 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 the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.86, for a total value of $24,258,665.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 235,482 shares of the company's stock, valued at $47,298,914.52. The trade was a 33.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total value of $1,009,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 101,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,414,099.75. This trade represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 669,248 shares of company stock valued at $127,820,829. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.