Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Acquired by Weatherly Asset Management L. P.

Weatherly Asset Management L. P. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,721 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 658 shares during the period. Weatherly Asset Management L. P.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,636,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PANW. Webster Bank N. A. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% during the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Financial grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 421.7% during the 3rd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 120 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 277.8% during the 3rd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 136 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 100 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 topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $11.81 on Tuesday, reaching $293.49. 4,060,803 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,531,698. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $293.65 and its 200-day moving average is $291.51. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $176.30 and a one year high of $380.84. The firm has a market cap of $94.83 billion, a PE ratio of 45.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553 over the last ninety days. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.