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

BigSur Wealth Management LLC lessened its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 5.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 43,380 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 2,400 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up about 2.0% of BigSur Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. BigSur Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $7,402,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted 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 purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the fourth 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 period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,324,387,000 after acquiring an additional 1,088,631 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. HSBC upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Guggenheim restated a "sell" rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered 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. Two investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $1.40 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $196.27. The company had a trading volume of 3,815,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,484,807. The stock has a market capitalization of $130.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 110.58, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50 day moving average of $184.15 and a 200 day moving average of $185.06. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.01 and a 52-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 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. The company's revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 789,736 shares of company stock worth $139,837,528. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

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.