Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Has $4.49 Million Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,220 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 994 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,488,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 48,557 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $14,318,000 after purchasing an additional 953 shares in the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 38,312 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $11,297,000 after acquiring an additional 3,364 shares during the last quarter. RB Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 2,541 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $749,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 11,999 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,538,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 41.0% during the fourth quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 1,799 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $530,000 after acquiring an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Capital One Financial downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $302.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $288.77 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $176.35 and a 52-week high of $380.84. The firm has a market cap of $93.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.90, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s fifty day moving average is $285.15 and its 200 day moving average is $293.00.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. Equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total transaction of $17,059,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,327,194.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the sale, the president now owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 122,917 shares of company stock worth $33,959,203. 3.30% of the stock is currently 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.