Mendel Money Management Boosts Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Mendel Money Management raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 85.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,631 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,218 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 2.3% of Mendel Money Management’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Mendel Money Management’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $370,000. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 139.1% in the 4th quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 4,472 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $814,000 after purchasing an additional 2,602 shares during the period. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.7% during the 4th quarter. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC now owns 219,459 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $39,368,000 after purchasing an additional 103,129 shares in the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 81.6% in the fourth quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 71,013 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,922,000 after buying an additional 31,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 123.2% during the 4th quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 18,920 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,443,000 after acquiring an additional 10,445 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PANW. Guggenheim cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on 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 owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over 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 insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.8 %

PANW opened at $189.95 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $187.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.38. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.50 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The firm has a market cap of $125.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 107.01, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks 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.