Stevens Capital Management LP Sells 5,239 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Key Points

• Stevens Capital Management LP significantly reduced its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. by 65.7%, selling 5,239 shares and now holding 2,735 shares valued at approximately $467,000.
• Analysts maintain a positive outlook on Palo Alto Networks, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and price targets ranging from $205.00 to $235.00.
• Palo Alto Networks reported earnings of $0.80 per share, surpassing estimates, and achieved a revenue of $2.29 billion, reflecting a 15.3% year-over-year growth.

Stevens Capital Management LP trimmed its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 65.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,735 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 5,239 shares during the quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $467,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $268,000. Drive Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 47.6% in the 1st quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,905 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $260,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 161,877 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $27,623,000 after acquiring an additional 4,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 345,205 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $58,906,000 after purchasing an additional 26,284 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Roth Capital assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $210.00 price objective on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $209.42.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $203.27 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.01 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $196.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $186.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $135.54 billion, a P/E 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 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total value of $160,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 42,033 shares in the company, valued at $8,450,734.65. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total value of $22,858,894.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 293,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $55,458,002.70. This trade represents a 29.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 569,248 shares of company stock valued at $111,279,829. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.

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