Close Asset Management Ltd Has $31.16 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Close Asset Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 96.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 182,648 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 89,584 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks comprises approximately 0.9% of Close Asset Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Close Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $31,162,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 115.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 43,985 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $8,004,000 after purchasing an additional 23,586 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 215.8% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,416 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $440,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 105.6% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,149 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Global Investments acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $225,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. HSBC upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $209.42.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded up $1.94 during trading on Thursday, reaching $201.16. The company had a trading volume of 2,883,962 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,386,036. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $195.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $186.38. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $142.01 and a one year high of $208.39. The company has a market capitalization of $134.13 billion, a PE ratio of 114.95, a PEG ratio of 5.49 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The firm's revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 293,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,458,002.70. This trade represents a 29.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total value of $160,840.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 42,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,450,734.65. This trade represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 569,248 shares of company stock valued at $111,279,829. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.