Mainstream Capital Management LLC Acquires 3,418 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Mainstream Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 101.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,801 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,418 shares during the period. Mainstream Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Westover Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 98.7% during the fourth quarter. Westover Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,736 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,772,000 after purchasing an additional 4,837 shares during the last quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 56.4% during the fourth quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,485 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,180,000 after purchasing an additional 2,338 shares during the last quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 161.4% during the fourth quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 45,023 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,192,000 after purchasing an additional 27,799 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 40.2% during the fourth quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 360,771 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $65,646,000 after purchasing an additional 103,458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patten Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 136.5% during the fourth quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 7,262 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,321,000 after purchasing an additional 4,192 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $183.68 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $186.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.50 and a 52-week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. OTR Global reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Guggenheim lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $195,596,176.16. The trade was a 13.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.