Brown Advisory Inc. Cuts Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Brown Advisory Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 8.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 140,269 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 12,997 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $23,936,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 4,031 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 115.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 43,985 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $8,004,000 after purchasing an additional 23,586 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 215.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,416 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $440,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651 shares during the period. Personal CFO Solutions LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $213,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,828 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $515,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of several research reports. 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 report on Thursday, April 10th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.4%

NASDAQ PANW traded down $4.68 on Friday, hitting $187.39. 7,403,780 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,412,170. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $195.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $185.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.95 billion, a PE ratio of 107.08, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.01 and a 1-year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $2.29 billion during 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.66, for a total transaction of $19,866,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,243,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,356,888.56. The trade was a 2.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.86, for a total transaction of $24,258,665.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 235,482 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,298,914.52. This represents a 33.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 569,248 shares of company stock valued at $111,279,829. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.