Wealth Alliance Has $1.55 Million Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Wealth Alliance boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 85.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,502 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,928 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PANW. Tradewinds LLC. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $791,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Geneva Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,741,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Klingman & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the third quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 750 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. TD Cowen boosted their price target 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price target (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $205.19 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $187.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $182.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.60, a PEG ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $130.04 and a one year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331. 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.