Greenwood Gearhart Inc. Grows Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Greenwood Gearhart Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 137.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,808 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,627 shares during the period. Greenwood Gearhart Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $511,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $548,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,122,000 after buying an additional 5,658 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% during the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,886,000 after buying an additional 11,095 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $244,871,000 after purchasing an additional 606,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mosley Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 116.2% in the 4th quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 3,023 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 1,625 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. The trade was a 2.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,039,318 shares of company stock valued at $181,925,602. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $2.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $167.69. 4,768,742 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,872,875. The business has a 50-day moving average of $180.61 and a 200 day moving average of $184.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.03 billion, a PE ratio of 94.47, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.60 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. HSBC raised Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.06.

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.