Verus Capital Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Verus Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 112.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,540 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,998 shares during the quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,372,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.4% during the 4th quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC now owns 20,960 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,814,000 after buying an additional 10,500 shares during the last quarter. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 88.9% during the fourth quarter. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych now owns 13,600 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,475,000 after acquiring an additional 6,400 shares during the period. Linscomb Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 98.8% during the fourth quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 36,368 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,618,000 after acquiring an additional 18,070 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 114.8% during the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 49,068 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,928,000 after acquiring an additional 26,222 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 1,320 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $240,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $187.50 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.14. The stock has a market cap of $124.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.50 and a 1-year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,353,042.65. The trade was a 21.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PANW. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. OTR Global reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, HSBC cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

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.