St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 808.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,543 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,153 shares during the period. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $605,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,611,013,000 after acquiring an additional 6,725,148 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,533,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,427,048,000 after acquiring an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,324,387,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088,631 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Insider Activity
In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.14, for a total transaction of $23,567,838.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 264,246 shares in the company, valued at $51,564,964.44. This represents a 31.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the firm'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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 42,033 shares in the company, valued at $8,450,734.65. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 790,536 shares of company stock valued at $139,998,368. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.8%
NASDAQ PANW traded down $1.63 on Tuesday, reaching $201.69. The company had a trading volume of 4,947,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,438,797. The stock has a market capitalization of $134.49 billion, a PE ratio of 115.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.01 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $188.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $185.08.
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 analysts' expectations of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a 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 research report on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.00.
Read Our Latest Report on Palo Alto Networks
About Palo Alto Networks
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Free Report)
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.
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