Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Purchased by Edge Capital Group LLC

Edge Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 102.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,018 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,039 shares during the quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,095,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in 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 valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $190.39 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $132.50 and a one year high of $208.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $186.85 and its 200-day moving average is $183.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 price target (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price target (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.69.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was 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 the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the company’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 $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.