Cetera Investment Advisers Purchases 165,191 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 107.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 318,921 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 165,191 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $58,031,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 906 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $165,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 70.3% during the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abound Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.8 %

PANW stock traded down $1.60 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $186.93. 3,209,190 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,728,128. The company has a market cap of $123.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.31, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $176.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.72. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.01 and a 1-year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 value of $22,858,894.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 293,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $55,458,002.70. This represents a 29.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.06.

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.