Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 127 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,018 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 127 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,396,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 91.0% in the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,683 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $478,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the period. American National Bank raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 67.4% in the 4th quarter. American National Bank now owns 231 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $799,792,000 after acquiring an additional 198,078 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 26,404 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,502,000 after acquiring an additional 8,611 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,377 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,244,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $345.16 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $224.64 and a 1 year high of $380.84. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $336.11 and its 200-day moving average is $311.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $112.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.17, a PEG ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, August 19th. Macquarie lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Northland Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $350.00 to $325.00 in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $366.08.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total value of $67,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,982 shares in the company, valued at $8,443,916. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total value of $67,600.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,982 shares in the company, valued at $8,443,916. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,668 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.54, for a total transaction of $22,436,448.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 694,228 shares in the company, valued at $233,635,491.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 464,075 shares of company stock worth $154,029,567 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.30% 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.