Catalina Capital Group LLC Decreases Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Catalina Capital Group LLC cut its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 49.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,519 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 1,471 shares during the period. Catalina Capital Group LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 377.6% in the first quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 10,679 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,822,000 after acquiring an additional 8,443 shares during the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 11.6% in the first quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 92,533 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $15,790,000 after acquiring an additional 9,655 shares during the last quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% in the first quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 6,144 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,048,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 23.7% in the first quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC now owns 42,288 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $7,216,000 after acquiring an additional 8,115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Davidson Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 33,902.0% in the first quarter. Davidson Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,001 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,901,000 after acquiring an additional 16,951 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Roth Capital initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, HSBC upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW traded down $0.54 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $199.24. The company had a trading volume of 8,285,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,480,472. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.01 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 113.85, a PEG ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. This trade represents a 27.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 789,736 shares of company stock worth $139,837,528 in the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.