Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Purchased by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 227,884 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,824 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $67,199,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Advisors Inc. OK raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 898 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 55.6% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 6,555 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,537,000 after purchasing an additional 2,343 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 35.8% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,914 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,558 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 40.5% in the 3rd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 1,663 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 25.3% in the 3rd quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 1,080 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $253,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on PANW. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $378.00 to $327.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of 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. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.82.

Insider Activity

In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly 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 quarter, insiders have sold 158,917 shares of company stock worth $44,335,843. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.3 %

Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $0.89 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $296.21. 3,436,945 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,292,921. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $177.09 and a 1-year high of $380.84. The business has a fifty day moving average of $285.70 and a 200 day moving average of $293.01. The company has a market capitalization of $95.71 billion, a PE ratio of 46.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.18.

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