Gradient Investments LLC Has $24.76 Million Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Gradient Investments LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 15.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 145,097 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 19,572 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $24,759,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of 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 acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during 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 buying an additional 6,725,148 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% during 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 in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. HSBC raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating and set a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW traded up $3.66 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $197.73. 1,694,291 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,531,808. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $179.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.03. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.01 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The stock has a market cap of $131.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.36, for a total transaction of $19,336,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,343,516 shares in the company, valued at $646,502,253.76. This represents a 2.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 668,962 shares of company stock valued at $116,269,690 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.