Empower Advisory Group LLC Purchases 54,609 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2,525.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 56,771 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 54,609 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $10,330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% during the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% in the fourth quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Abound Wealth Management lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 265.0% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.5 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $205.19 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.04 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The company has a market capitalization of $134.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $187.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.68.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its 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 return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 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.