FineMark National Bank & Trust Buys 31,845 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

FineMark National Bank & Trust raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 101.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 63,305 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 31,845 shares during the quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $11,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $11,142,122,000 after purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% during 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $764,764,000 after buying an additional 2,197,765 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $388,155,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $333,925,000 after buying an additional 1,213,073 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Susquehanna lifted their target price 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. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average 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, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 $65,353,042.65. The trade was a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of PANW traded down $1.49 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $172.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,861,358 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,898,570. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $132.50 and a one year high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $114.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $187.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $185.31.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.