Benjamin Edwards Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Key Points

• Benjamin Edwards Inc. has reduced its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 30.1%, now owning 43,922 shares valued at approximately $7.5 million.
• Major hedge funds, such as Brighton Jones LLC and Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG, have significantly increased their positions in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter, reflecting a strong interest from institutional investors.
• Palo Alto Networks has received a mix of ratings from analysts, with 26 buy ratings and two sell ratings, while the average price target is set at $209.61.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. cut its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 30.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 43,922 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 18,936 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $7,495,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 4,031 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 115.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 43,985 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $8,004,000 after acquiring an additional 23,586 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 67.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 53,760 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $9,782,000 after acquiring an additional 21,660 shares in the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $236,000. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 125.1% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 27,559 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $5,015,000 after acquiring an additional 15,315 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $496.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday. Guggenheim reissued a "sell" rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $217.07.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW traded up $1.11 during trading on Monday, hitting $168.17. The stock had a trading volume of 10,213,853 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,096,348. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.15 and a twelve month high of $210.39. The company has a market capitalization of $112.14 billion, a PE ratio of 96.10, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $194.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $186.91.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 8,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,640,080. This represents a 5.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total transaction of $17,280,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,143,516 shares in the company, valued at $543,199,564.80. This trade represents a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 669,248 shares of company stock worth $126,423,337 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.