Cross Staff Investments Inc Takes Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Cross Staff Investments Inc bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 750 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $383,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 18,500.0% in the third quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 186 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Nikulski Financial Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 17.1% in the third quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 16,038 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,760,000 after purchasing an additional 2,337 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 62.4% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 7,230 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,695,000 after purchasing an additional 2,779 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Blueprint LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 36.9% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 20,369 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,775,000 after buying an additional 5,492 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PANW. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Loop Capital downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $315.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Eleven 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, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,327,194.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the transaction, the president now owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,327,194.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.2 %

PANW stock traded up $3.39 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $292.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,527,184 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,413,754. The company has a market cap of $94.40 billion, a PE ratio of 45.67, a P/E/G ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $289.11 and its 200-day moving average is $291.84. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $176.30 and a 12 month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current 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.