Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Trims Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lessened its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 2.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 66,867 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 1,714 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $11,410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% during the fourth quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,378 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,226 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 10.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,125 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,410,000 after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares during the last quarter. Diligent Investors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 3,430 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $23,491,000 after purchasing an additional 10,180 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $209.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.86, for a total value of $24,258,665.64. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 235,482 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,298,914.52. This represents a 33.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total transaction of $1,009,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 101,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,414,099.75. This represents a 4.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 569,248 shares of company stock valued at $111,279,829. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock traded up $2.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $203.27. 3,457,359 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,288,193. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.01 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $186.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $135.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.15, a P/E/G ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The business 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 posted $0.66 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.