Highland Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 7,258 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Highland Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,258 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,239,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $2,611,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake 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 valued at $1,533,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake 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 valued at $1,427,048,000 after purchasing an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $1,324,387,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088,631 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. 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. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of 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. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total transaction of $160,840.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 42,033 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,450,734.65. This trade represents a 1.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,038.83. The trade was a 41.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 795,536 shares of company stock worth $141,007,618. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $200.57 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The company's 50 day moving average is $190.70 and its 200 day moving average is $185.33. The company has a market cap of $133.74 billion, a PE ratio of 114.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued 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 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. Palo Alto Networks's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.

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