Granite Investment Partners LLC Has $694,000 Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Granite Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,816 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,908 shares during the quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 906 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $165,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 70.3% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Abound Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% during the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 150 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, March 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley set a $230.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $205.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.52.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $168.34 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $111.46 billion, a PE ratio of 94.84, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $182.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.90. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.18 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at $65,353,042.65. This represents a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 939,318 shares of company stock valued at $165,384,602. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.