Wealthstar Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Wealthstar Advisors LLC cut its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 54.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,807 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 5,780 shares during the quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $820,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,611,013,000 after buying an additional 6,725,148 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,533,419,000 after buying an additional 3,841,359 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,427,048,000 after buying an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,324,387,000 after buying an additional 1,088,631 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Guggenheim reiterated a "sell" rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Stephens lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $200.57 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.01 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The company has a 50-day moving average of $190.70 and a 200 day moving average of $185.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 114.61, a PEG ratio of 5.60 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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total value of $18,252,574.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. This trade represents a 27.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 795,536 shares of company stock worth $141,007,618 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

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.

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