Investment House LLC Purchases 2,045 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Investment House LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 119.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,750 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,045 shares during the quarter. Investment House LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $682,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $244,871,000 after purchasing an additional 606,778 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,883 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $707,000 after purchasing an additional 934 shares during the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 103.0% in the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 97,351 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $17,714,000 after buying an additional 49,391 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 96.8% in the 4th quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI now owns 3,070 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $559,000 after buying an additional 1,510 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PANW. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. 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 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $187.54 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $132.50 and a 1 year high of $208.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $186.18 and a 200 day moving average of $185.00. The stock has a market cap of $124.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued 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 return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Research 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.