Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 6,621 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 27.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,633 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 6,621 shares during the quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 322 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Snider Financial Group increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Snider Financial Group now owns 17,729 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,025,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 906 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $165,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 511 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $93,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.14, for a total transaction of $23,567,838.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 264,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,564,964.44. This trade represents a 31.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Westpark Capital reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Northland Securities reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $0.86 on Wednesday, hitting $195.09. 1,694,217 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,487,721. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.01 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $130.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 109.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share 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.