First Dallas Securities Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

First Dallas Securities Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 66.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. First Dallas Securities Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $568,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. GSG Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 5,160 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,478,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Spirit of America Management Corp NY raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 300 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 112,040 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $33,038,000 after acquiring an additional 26,767 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 24,726 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,291,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225 shares during the period. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 91.0% in the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,683 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $478,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 322 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total value of $99,820.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,167,770. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 322 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total value of $99,820.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,167,770. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total transaction of $36,334,289.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at $49,895,983.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 258,182 shares of company stock worth $74,850,597. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $1.81 on Friday, hitting $339.01. 4,172,306 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,168,419. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $307.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $307.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.77 billion, a PE ratio of 49.27, a PEG ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 1.10. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $201.17 and a 1 year high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Argus upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $336.00 to $348.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $385.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, June 21st. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, June 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $380.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.29.

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.