Vision Capital Management Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Vision Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 22,423 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $3,826,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,226 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 5,658 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% in the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,886,000 after purchasing an additional 11,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,374 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Northland Securities dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $5.00 on Friday, reaching $187.07. 4,596,078 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,453,841. 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 $195.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $185.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.74 billion, a PE ratio of 106.90, a PEG ratio of 5.75 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the business'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 sale, the director owned 8,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,640,080. The trade was a 5.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total transaction of $160,840.00. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 569,248 shares of company stock valued at $111,279,829 in the last three months. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.