Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Grows Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 199.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 10,586 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,053 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,927,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $11,142,122,000 after purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after buying an additional 220,900 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,048,033,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,474 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $764,764,000 after acquiring an additional 2,197,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $388,155,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Loop Capital decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. JMP Securities lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective (down previously from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $184.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $122.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 104.11, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.50 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $186.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.23.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm 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 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.