Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Acquired by Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC

Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 74.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,695 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 12,262 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 1.4% of Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,740,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $11,142,122,000 after purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 worth $2,611,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in 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 worth $1,533,419,000 after buying an additional 3,841,359 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% in 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 buying an additional 4,486,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% in 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 buying an additional 1,088,631 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total value of $18,252,574.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 321,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at $48,629,704.62. The trade was a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Northland Securities dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. HSBC raised Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Stephens lowered Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $4.96 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $190.78. The stock had a trading volume of 11,416,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,595,989. The stock's 50 day moving average is $178.31 and its 200 day moving average is $185.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.21 billion, a PE ratio of 107.48, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.