Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,485 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $253,000.
A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 valued at $2,611,013,000 after acquiring an additional 6,725,148 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake 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 valued at $1,427,048,000 after acquiring an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake 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 valued at $1,533,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,841,359 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks
In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $99,940.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,640,080. The trade was a 5.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.00, for a total transaction of $122,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 41,433 shares in the company, valued at $8,452,332. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 669,248 shares of company stock worth $127,820,829. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.
Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.0%
NASDAQ:PANW traded up $2.07 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $206.06. 3,085,020 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,384,104. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $194.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.76. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The firm has a market cap of $137.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.75, a PEG ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 0.97.
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. The company's revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.
Analyst Ratings Changes
PANW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Northland Securities cut their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.00.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Palo Alto Networks
About Palo Alto Networks
(
Free Report)
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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