United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Has $8.09 Million Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 98.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,470 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 22,006 shares during the period. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $8,092,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 100.5% in the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 17,616 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,205,000 after acquiring an additional 8,831 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 93.2% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 1,590 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $289,000 after purchasing an additional 767 shares during the last quarter. Montag & Caldwell LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 79.9% in the 4th quarter. Montag & Caldwell LLC now owns 27,894 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $5,076,000 after purchasing an additional 12,387 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 501.3% during the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 27,077 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $4,927,000 after purchasing an additional 22,574 shares during the period. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $205.00 price target for the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. HSBC raised Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating and set a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.06.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,039,318 shares of company stock valued at $181,925,602. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ PANW traded down $2.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $167.69. The stock had a trading volume of 4,768,742 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,858,295. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $180.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.98. The company has a market cap of $111.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.47, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.60 and a 52-week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.