Summit Investment Advisors Inc. Purchases 14,288 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 109.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,367 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 14,288 shares during the quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,980,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $2,611,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $970,736,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position 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 valued at $1,048,033,000 after buying an additional 2,612,474 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 86.9% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,775,171 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $868,890,000 after acquiring an additional 2,220,130 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

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Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded up $4.03 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $174.01. 217,835 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,879,582. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $181.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $135.18 and a 52-week high of $208.39.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating and set a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Stephens began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,039,318 shares of company stock worth $181,925,602 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.