Brick & Kyle Associates Raises Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Brick & Kyle Associates grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 100.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,571 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 9,288 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up about 1.4% of Brick & Kyle Associates' portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Brick & Kyle Associates' holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,379,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% during the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% during the 4th quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 265.0% during the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $1.98 on Thursday, reaching $185.82. 4,495,896 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,586,007. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.01 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The company has a market cap of $123.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 104.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $178.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.22.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total value of $22,858,894.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 293,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $55,458,002.70. This trade represents a 29.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PANW. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. HSBC upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. TD Securities restated a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Stephens lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $206.40.

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.