Kraft Davis & Associates LLC Grows Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Kraft Davis & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 101.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,280 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,649 shares during the quarter. Kraft Davis & Associates LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $639,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PANW. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 99.9% during the fourth quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors now owns 7,437 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,353,000 after purchasing an additional 3,716 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 110.5% in the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 20,632 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,754,000 after buying an additional 10,830 shares during the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $236,000. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 104.5% in the fourth quarter. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC now owns 70,954 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $12,911,000 after acquiring an additional 36,265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Faithward Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% in the fourth quarter. Faithward Advisors LLC now owns 22,807 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $4,150,000 after acquiring an additional 11,757 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded up $0.07 on Friday, hitting $168.34. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,295,092 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,904,752. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $182.29 and a 200-day moving average of $184.90. The company has a market capitalization of $111.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.18 and a 12-month high of $208.39.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. 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 MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $204.52.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 321,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 939,318 shares of company stock valued at $165,384,602 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

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.