Picton Mahoney Asset Management Acquires New Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Key Points

• Picton Mahoney Asset Management has acquired 43,423 shares of Palo Alto Networks, valued at approximately $7.4 million, as part of their new position during the 1st quarter.
• In recent transactions, insider sales by executives resulted in a total of 569,248 shares being sold, valued at around $111.3 million.
• Palo Alto Networks' shares declined by 5.6%, bringing the stock price down to $183.03, while trading volume significantly surpassed average levels at over 42 million shares.

Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 43,423 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $7,409,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,226 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,125 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,410,000 after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares in the last quarter. Diligent Investors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 3,430 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $624,000 after acquiring an additional 1,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.0% during the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 137,663 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $23,491,000 after purchasing an additional 10,180 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total transaction of $22,858,894.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 293,010 shares in the company, valued at $55,458,002.70. The trade was a 29.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.66, for a total transaction of $19,866,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,243,516 shares in the company, valued at $644,356,888.56. The trade was a 2.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 569,248 shares of company stock valued at $111,279,829 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW traded down $0.72 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $172.88. The stock had a trading volume of 16,231,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,904,851. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $196.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $187.19. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $142.01 and a one year high of $210.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.79, a P/E/G ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted 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 business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday. Roth Capital began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $210.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $209.61.

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.