Values First Advisors Inc. Cuts Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Values First Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,151 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 85 shares during the period. Values First Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. RB Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 19.9% in the first quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 602 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $375,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Morgens Waterfall Vintiadis & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $6,910,000. United Bank increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 11.7% in the first quarter. United Bank now owns 2,822 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,757,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 13.6% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $963,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,022,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Loop Capital lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $272.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 11th. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total value of $17,059,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,327,194.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director John Donovan sold 8,100 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.04, for a total value of $2,673,324.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,017,374.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total value of $17,059,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at $56,327,194.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 143,153 shares of company stock worth $44,107,332. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded up $1.87 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $284.13. 3,400,498 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,726,015. The stock has a market cap of $91.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.40, a PEG ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.21. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $176.30 and a twelve month high of $380.84. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $319.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $286.07.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.