KG&L Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

KG&L Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 32.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,408 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,311 shares during the quarter. KG&L Capital Management LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,288,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during 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 during the period. 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. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted 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 purchasing an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted 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 valued at $1,533,419,000 after buying an additional 3,841,359 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, HSBC upgraded 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. Two equities 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.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $208.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 321,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total transaction of $1,009,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 101,135 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,414,099.75. This represents a 4.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 795,536 shares of company stock valued at $141,007,618 in the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.0%

PANW traded down $1.96 on Thursday, hitting $202.34. 5,260,328 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,426,733. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The stock has a market cap of $134.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.62, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $189.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $185.33.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

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.