Venturi Wealth Management LLC Has $2.59 Million Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 118.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,224 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 7,717 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,048,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,474 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $333,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213,073 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 107.8% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,634,701 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $297,450,000 after purchasing an additional 848,127 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 104.1% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,562,722 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $284,353,000 after purchasing an additional 796,964 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.7 %

Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $7.36 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $191.45. 3,137,836 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,305,220. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.50 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The firm has a market cap of $126.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 107.93, a P/E/G ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 1.14. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $187.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $182.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the business'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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,353,042.65. The trade was a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This trade represents 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 worth $269,397,331 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on PANW. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Tuesday. JMP Securities upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $202.70.

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.