Merit Financial Group LLC Boosts Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 29.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 34,974 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,978 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,968,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during 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 period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in 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 grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,533,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded up $3.11 during trading on Thursday, hitting $197.18. 3,540,615 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,538,976. The business's fifty day moving average is $179.38 and its 200 day moving average is $185.03. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $131.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.09, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm 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 earned $0.66 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $586,132,981.56. This represents a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 668,962 shares of company stock worth $116,269,690. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Guggenheim reiterated a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Roth Capital began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $210.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.00.

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.