BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. Grows Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 84.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 23,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 10,713 shares during the period. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Tradewinds LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $791,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 750 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 715 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 2,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $728,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Opinicus Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. now owns 2,138 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $731,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.9 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $180.93 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.78. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $132.50 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.93, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current 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 value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.