Parallel Advisors LLC Increases Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 4.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,684 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 2,115 shares during the quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $9,331,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 265.0% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 150 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 102.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. HSBC raised Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, May 19th. Two investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded up $4.96 during trading on Friday, hitting $190.78. 11,416,203 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,559,007. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $178.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $185.07. The company has a market cap of $127.21 billion, a PE ratio of 107.48, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.01 and a 12-month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total value of $18,252,574.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

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.