Wealth Quarterback LLC Increases Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Wealth Quarterback LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 78.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,703 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 3,388 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks comprises about 0.7% of Wealth Quarterback LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Wealth Quarterback LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,402,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% during the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 834 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $268,851,000 after acquiring an additional 129,371 shares in the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $253,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 6,398 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,187,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $36,316,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. UBS Group boosted 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. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating and set a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, HSBC cut Palo Alto Networks from a "hold" rating to a "reduce" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $7.78 during trading on Friday, hitting $191.03. 5,451,305 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,377,549. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $187.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $182.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.62, a PEG ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.50 and a 52-week high of $208.39.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have 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 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.