Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Raises Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 105.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 584,877 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 300,423 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $106,424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. 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 Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $176.32 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $132.50 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $116.74 billion, a PE ratio of 99.34, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $185.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $184.73.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal 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.