Brown Financial Advisors Has $1.29 Million Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Brown Financial Advisors raised its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 90.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,069 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,358 shares during the quarter. Brown Financial Advisors’ holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,286,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tradewinds LLC. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $791,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Geneva Partners LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,741,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Klingman & Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 750 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Carr Financial Group Corp grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 715 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $244,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $190.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $186.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $183.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.06 billion, a PE ratio of 107.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 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) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 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 the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, BTIG Research cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.69.

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.