Blair William & Co. IL Sells 125,379 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL reduced its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 9.6%, selling 125,379 shares during the first quarter, leaving it with approximately 1.18 million shares valued at $201.1 million.
• Palo Alto Networks reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.80, exceeding analysts' expectations, and achieved revenue of $2.29 billion, which is a 15.3% increase year-over-year.
• Insider transactions included significant sales by executives, with a total of 569,248 shares sold in the past three months, indicating a decrease in insider ownership to 2.50%.

Blair William & Co. IL lessened its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 9.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,178,648 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 125,379 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL owned about 0.18% of Palo Alto Networks worth $201,124,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its holdings in 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 during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $99,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,640,080. The trade was a 5.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.00, for a total value of $122,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 41,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,452,332. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 669,248 shares of company stock worth $126,423,337. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. HSBC upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Hsbc Global Res raised Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Northland Securities reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $209.61.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW traded up $3.80 on Wednesday, hitting $172.89. 9,750,662 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,985,103. The business's fifty day moving average is $195.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $187.19. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $210.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.79, a PEG ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The company's revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal 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.