Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Purchased by Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.

Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 327.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 107,800 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 82,600 shares during the quarter. Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $18,395,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its holdings in 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 valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. JDM Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 22.4% in the 4th 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 period. Adero Partners LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 1,556 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Snider Financial Group raised 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 valued at $3,025,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Grimes & Company Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 5.3% during the first quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 1,310 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.8%

PANW stock opened at $201.69 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $134.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.25, a PEG ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $188.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.20.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at $586,132,981.56. The trade was a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have sold a total of 795,536 shares of company stock worth $141,007,618 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. HSBC upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note 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 issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently 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.

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