Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Purchases 1,380 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 124,524 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,380 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $21,249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% during the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,378 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,226 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 5,658 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% during the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,886,000 after purchasing an additional 11,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $244,871,000 after purchasing an additional 606,778 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock traded up $4.08 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $203.32. 4,464,708 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,440,762. The firm has a market cap of $135.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 116.18, a P/E/G ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 0.97. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $188.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.08. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.01 and a 1-year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at $48,629,704.62. This trade represents a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 790,536 shares of company stock worth $139,998,368. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PANW shares. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Two 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.00.

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.