Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by Valicenti Advisory Services Inc.

Valicenti Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 15.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,243 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,519 shares during the period. Valicenti Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,284,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its position in 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 valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,226 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its position in 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 valued at $2,122,000 after acquiring an additional 5,658 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its position in 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 valued at $3,886,000 after acquiring an additional 11,095 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in 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 valued at $244,871,000 after acquiring an additional 606,778 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold a total of 795,536 shares of company stock valued at $141,007,618 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW traded down $1.77 during trading on Friday, hitting $200.57. 5,339,865 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,407,639. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $190.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.42. The firm has a market cap of $133.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 114.61, a P/E/G ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 0.97. 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 issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. Palo Alto Networks's revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on PANW. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "sell" rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, May 19th. 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.