Private Advisor Group LLC Has $14.90 Million Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 113.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 81,859 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 43,480 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $14,895,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,156,000. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $24,414,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after buying an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $328,470,000 after buying an additional 4,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 40,173 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $13,731,000 after buying an additional 5,250 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "hold" rating to a "reduce" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $202.70.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded down $8.42 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $190.39. 3,641,747 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,316,542. The company has a market cap of $126.06 billion, a PE ratio of 107.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 1.14. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $187.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $182.95. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.50 and a 1-year high of $208.39.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal 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.