Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Takes $437,000 Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,400 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $437,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 130.8% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 15,094 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,746,000 after purchasing an additional 8,553 shares in the last quarter. BluePointe Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 96.3% during the fourth quarter. BluePointe Capital Management LLC now owns 6,842 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,245,000 after buying an additional 3,356 shares during the last quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 109.9% in the 4th quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 13,856 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,521,000 after buying an additional 7,256 shares in the last quarter. Viawealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 99.1% in the 4th quarter. Viawealth LLC now owns 5,691 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,036,000 after acquiring an additional 2,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.4% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 139,167 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $25,323,000 after acquiring an additional 68,679 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded down $4.99 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $184.96. The stock had a trading volume of 3,408,830 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,725,901. The stock's 50 day moving average is $187.31 and its 200 day moving average is $185.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.46 billion, a PE ratio of 104.20, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $132.50 and a twelve month high of $208.39.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on PANW. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating and set a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, BTIG Research lowered Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $205.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company 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.