Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC Purchases 36,265 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 104.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 70,954 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 36,265 shares during the period. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $12,911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of PANW. Faithward Advisors LLC grew its position 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. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,122.8% in the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 415,678 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $73,044,000 after purchasing an additional 381,683 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 72.1% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 54,460 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $9,910,000 after purchasing an additional 22,824 shares in the last quarter. RiverGlades Family Offices LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 36.4% during the 4th quarter. RiverGlades Family Offices LLC now owns 4,500 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $819,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $761,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $54,854,038.83. The trade was a 41.73 % 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 Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. The trade was a 21.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 939,318 shares of company stock valued at $165,384,602 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. 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. HSBC raised Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.52.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $168.34. 6,295,092 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,904,752. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $182.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.90. The firm has a market cap of $111.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.84, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.18 and a twelve month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.