Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC Acquires 42,785 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 85,578 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 42,785 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 3.0% of Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $15,571,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $268,851,000 after acquiring an additional 129,371 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,619 shares in the last quarter. United Bank raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 6,835 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at about $231,000. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 116.6% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 535 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $183,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $182.32 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $132.50 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The company has a market capitalization of $120.71 billion, a PE ratio of 102.72, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50 day moving average of $186.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.00.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results 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. The business 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’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 transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, 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 sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on PANW. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. HSBC lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and cut their target price for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI cut their target price on 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. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Three equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.06.

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.