Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. Has $564,000 Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 106.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,102 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,600 shares during the quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $564,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,609,486,000 after buying an additional 220,900 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,048,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,474 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $764,764,000 after purchasing an additional 2,197,765 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $388,155,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213,073 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $180.93 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.50 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 101.93, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.81.

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

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.