Triumph Capital Management Boosts Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Triumph Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 74.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,908 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,955 shares during the period. Triumph Capital Management's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,179,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% in the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,378 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,226 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings 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. Diligent Investors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 3,430 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 137,663 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $23,491,000 after acquiring an additional 10,180 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PANW. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research 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 objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Roth Capital assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $210.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $209.42.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW traded up $1.94 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $201.16. The company had a trading volume of 2,883,962 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,386,036. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $195.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $186.38. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.01 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The stock has a market cap of $134.13 billion, a PE ratio of 114.95, a P/E/G ratio of 5.49 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks's revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business's 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 293,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $55,458,002.70. The trade was a 29.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.66, for a total transaction of $19,866,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,243,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $644,356,888.56. The trade was a 2.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 569,248 shares of company stock valued at $111,279,829. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.