Keystone Financial Group Acquires 6,798 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Keystone Financial Group increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 669.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,814 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,798 shares during the period. Keystone Financial Group's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,504,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $11,142,122,000 after buying an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,611,013,000 after acquiring an additional 6,725,148 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $970,736,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 2,612,474 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 86.9% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,775,171 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $868,890,000 after purchasing 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.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the company's 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,353,042.65. This represents a 21.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,039,318 shares of company stock worth $181,925,602 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities upped their price objective 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. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Stephens assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $205.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Two investment 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.52.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW traded up $4.19 on Tuesday, hitting $174.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 217,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,879,582. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $181.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.92. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.18 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The company has a market capitalization of $115.32 billion, a PE ratio of 97.78, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released 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. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current 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.