Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Cuts Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lowered its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 5.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,099 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 1,903 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,160,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,611,013,000 after buying an additional 6,725,148 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted 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 worth $1,427,048,000 after buying an additional 4,486,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,533,419,000 after buying an additional 3,841,359 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $99,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,640,080. This trade represents a 5.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.86, for a total transaction of $24,258,665.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 235,482 shares of the company's stock, valued at $47,298,914.52. The trade was a 33.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 669,248 shares of company stock valued at $127,820,829. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on PANW. Stephens downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. 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. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW traded down $8.23 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $197.83. 3,011,216 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,412,344. The firm has a market capitalization of $131.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 113.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The business has a 50-day moving average of $194.93 and a 200-day moving average of $185.76.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. Palo Alto Networks's revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.