Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Purchases Shares of 2,776 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,776 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $505,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Dallas Securities Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 2,130 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $728,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. RB Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the third quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 2,492 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $852,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the third quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC now owns 2,321 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $792,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,977 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $676,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Zega Financial LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.8% in the third quarter. Zega Financial LLC now owns 5,997 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,050,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This represents a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the firm'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 directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PANW. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Guggenheim lowered Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their target price on 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded down $1.68 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $172.76. The company had a trading volume of 6,244,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,908,199. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $132.50 and a one year high of $208.39. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $187.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.39. The stock has a market cap of $114.38 billion, a PE ratio of 97.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.