Petredis Investment Advisors LLC Invests $2.45 Million in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Petredis Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 14,338 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $2,447,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% in the fourth quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,378 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,226 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 5,658 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 11,095 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $244,871,000 after purchasing an additional 606,778 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.7%

NASDAQ:PANW traded down $1.40 on Friday, reaching $196.27. 3,815,861 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,482,749. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $184.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.11. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.01 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The firm has a market cap of $130.87 billion, a PE ratio of 110.58, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks's revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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 report on Wednesday, May 21st. Stephens cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays cut their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Roth Capital assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. Two equities 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.