L & S Advisors Inc Buys 31,237 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

L & S Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 88.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 66,592 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 31,237 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for 1.3% of L & S Advisors Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. L & S Advisors Inc’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $12,117,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew 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 increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 6,835 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $886,000 after buying an additional 677 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 13,454.5% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 21,145 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,227,000 after buying an additional 20,989 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 14,134 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,831,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $195,596,176.16. The trade was a 13.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on PANW. Morgan Stanley set a $230.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. BTIG Research lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $172.76 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $187.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $185.31. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.50 and a 52-week high of $208.39. The company has a market cap of $114.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.33, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.