Montag A & Associates Inc. Purchases 1,887 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 99.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,775 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,887 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $687,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 834 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 129,371 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth about $253,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 6,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,187,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the period. Finally, Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $208.28 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.04 and a 52 week high of $208.35. The company has a market capitalization of $136.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.24, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $182.29.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. OTR Global reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.