Vega Investment Solutions Buys Shares of 51,149 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Vega Investment Solutions acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 51,149 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $9,307,000. Palo Alto Networks comprises 7.7% of Vega Investment Solutions' holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Grassi Investment Management boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 161.1% during the fourth quarter. Grassi Investment Management now owns 7,910 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,439,000 after buying an additional 4,880 shares in the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $214,000. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 83.5% in the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 4,458 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $811,000 after acquiring an additional 2,029 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 92.5% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 127,483 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $23,197,000 after acquiring an additional 61,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XML Financial LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 129.4% in the 4th quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,562 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 881 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.3%

PANW stock traded up $0.61 during trading on Friday, hitting $186.75. The company had a trading volume of 4,898,365 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,612,883. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $178.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $185.25. The company has a market cap of $123.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.21, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. Palo Alto Networks's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. The trade was a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total value of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced 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. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Roth Capital began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $206.40.

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.