Perennial Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Perennial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,380 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its stake 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 worth $433,000 after buying an additional 1,226 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 11,095 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $244,871,000 after acquiring an additional 606,778 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 321,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. This trade represents a 27.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 789,736 shares of company stock worth $139,837,528. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, May 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating and set a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $3.27 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $196.33. The stock had a trading volume of 2,563,808 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,513,813. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $142.01 and a one year high of $208.39. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $180.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $184.92. The company has a market capitalization of $130.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.61, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.