Sanders Morris Harris LLC Raises Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Sanders Morris Harris LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 1,993.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 26,254 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 25,000 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks comprises about 0.7% of Sanders Morris Harris LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Sanders Morris Harris LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,498,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 265.0% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the period. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 150 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 102.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock traded up $3.93 during trading on Thursday, reaching $198.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,440,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,530,961. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $179.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.03. The company has a market cap of $132.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its 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 company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. Palo Alto Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Guggenheim reissued a "sell" rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. HSBC upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Stephens downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $208.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,343,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $646,502,253.76. The trade was a 2.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 now directly owns 293,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $55,458,002.70. This trade represents a 29.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 668,962 shares of company stock valued at $116,269,690. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.