Empire Financial Management Company LLC Buys 4,530 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Empire Financial Management Company LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 103.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,924 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 4,530 shares during the period. Empire Financial Management Company LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,624,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.5% in the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 32,168 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $5,853,000 after buying an additional 16,436 shares in the last quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 61.1% in the 4th quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 93,631 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $17,116,000 after acquiring an additional 35,501 shares during the last quarter. Burling Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $372,000. RiverPark Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 18,105.3% during the 4th quarter. RiverPark Advisors LLC now owns 13,836 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,518,000 after acquiring an additional 13,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evercore Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 148.6% during the fourth quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,888 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $707,000 after purchasing an additional 2,324 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This trade represents a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at $586,132,981.56. The trade was a 2.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,039,318 shares of company stock valued at $181,925,602 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PANW. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. BTIG Research lowered Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. HSBC raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.06.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $168.32 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.81 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The stock has a market cap of $111.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.83, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $177.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.64.

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

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