Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Acquires 2,354 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 2.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 82,589 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,354 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $14,093,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised 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 valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,226 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $2,122,000 after acquiring an additional 5,658 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% in the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,886,000 after acquiring an additional 11,095 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 10.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.36, for a total transaction of $19,336,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,343,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $646,502,253.76. The trade was a 2.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total transaction of $160,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 42,033 shares in the company, valued at $8,450,734.65. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,122 shares of company stock worth $101,726,398 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, 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. Two 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, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded down $0.61 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $196.97. 3,365,211 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,391,858. The business's 50 day moving average is $192.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $185.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.34 billion, a PE ratio of 112.55, a P/E/G ratio of 5.71 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $142.01 and a one year high of $208.39.

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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. 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 previous year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. Palo Alto Networks's revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current 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.