Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by Davis R M Inc.

Davis R M Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 94.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 716,081 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 348,297 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 2.5% of Davis R M Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $130,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clare Market Investments LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $2,079,000. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 106.5% in the 4th quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 3,102 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 131.6% in the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 264 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 95.2% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 43,316 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,882,000 after purchasing an additional 21,127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 132.9% during the fourth quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,202 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $583,000 after purchasing an additional 1,827 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $173.83 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $132.50 and a one year high of $208.39. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $185.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.80.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 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 directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.