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

Horan Capital Advisors LLC. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 99.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,762 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,373 shares during the quarter. Horan Capital Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,322,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,156,000. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth $24,414,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after buying an additional 1,050,173 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $328,470,000 after buying an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chartwell Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,844,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on PANW. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 target price (down previously from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.06.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 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 $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the firm’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 $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $183.68 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $132.50 and a one year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.