18,293 Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Purchased by Sowell Financial Services LLC

Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 18,293 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,329,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $268,851,000 after acquiring an additional 129,371 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,619 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 25.8% in the 3rd quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 857 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $293,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 1,329 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $454,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $673,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $180.93 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $119.79 billion, a PE ratio of 101.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.50 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $186.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.81.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during 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%. Research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PANW. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Susquehanna upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target 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. Three research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.