Highview Capital Management LLC DE Has $1.17 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 103.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,426 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,268 shares during the quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,169,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,156,000. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $24,414,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after buying an additional 1,050,173 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $328,470,000 after buying an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 40,173 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,731,000 after buying an additional 5,250 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $208.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $136.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.24, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $186.84 and a 200-day moving average of $182.29. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.04 and a 1-year high of $208.35.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. 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 90 days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. KeyCorp upped their target price 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. Scotiabank upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.70.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.