Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by Advisory Services Network LLC

Advisory Services Network LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 72.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,460 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 22,824 shares during the quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $9,910,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in 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. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $970,736,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,048,033,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 86.9% in 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 last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped 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, March 31st. UBS Group upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two investment 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.52.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of PANW traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $168.34. The company had a trading volume of 6,295,092 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,903,601. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.18 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $182.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.79. The stock has a market cap of $111.46 billion, a PE ratio of 94.84, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the company's 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 $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This represents a 21.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 939,318 shares of company stock worth $165,384,602 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.