Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Sold by WD Rutherford LLC

WD Rutherford LLC trimmed its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 5.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,888 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 572 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 1.6% of WD Rutherford LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. WD Rutherford LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,094,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 23.0% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 42,381 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $9,936,000 after acquiring an additional 7,921 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 78.1% during the third quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 18,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,230,000 after buying an additional 7,911 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 16.3% during the third quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 3,499 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $820,000 after buying an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 220.3% during the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 189 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at about $2,312,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on PANW shares. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $364.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. KeyCorp upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $355.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, DA Davidson assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, June 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $380.00 target price on the stock. Twelve equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.92, for a total transaction of $497,517.32. Following the sale, the president now owns 20,501 shares in the company, valued at $6,292,166.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total transaction of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $373,434,232.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.92, for a total value of $497,517.32. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 20,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,292,166.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 258,182 shares of company stock worth $74,850,597 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $1.81 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $339.01. The company had a trading volume of 4,172,306 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,168,419. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $307.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $307.14. The stock has a market cap of $109.77 billion, a PE ratio of 49.27, a P/E/G 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.