Moran Wealth Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,622 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 322 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Adero Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% in the first quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 1,556 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Snider Financial Group raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the first quarter. Snider Financial Group now owns 17,729 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,025,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grimes & Company Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.3% during the first quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 1,310 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.9%

NASDAQ PANW traded down $1.77 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $200.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,339,865 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,395,844. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.01 and a 1 year high of $208.39. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $190.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.33. The company has a market capitalization of $133.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 114.61, a PEG ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 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 the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total transaction of $160,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 42,033 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,450,734.65. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 795,536 shares of company stock worth $141,007,618. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "sell" rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.00.

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.