Uniting Wealth Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 3,010 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Uniting Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,010 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $548,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,611,013,000 after buying an additional 6,725,148 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,048,033,000 after buying an additional 2,612,474 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $970,736,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 86.9% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,775,171 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $868,890,000 after acquiring an additional 2,220,130 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com lowered Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.27.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW traded down $8.01 on Thursday, reaching $165.17. 7,362,460 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,879,132. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.50 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The firm has a market cap of $109.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.05, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $186.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $185.24.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,350,278 shares of company stock worth $243,597,031. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

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.