Main Street Research LLC Buys 7,581 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Main Street Research LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 113.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,236 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,581 shares during the period. Main Street Research LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,590,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 65.1% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 463,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $84,373,000 after buying an additional 182,850 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $333,000 after acquiring an additional 914 shares during the last quarter. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 126.1% during the fourth quarter. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,085,000 after acquiring an additional 3,326 shares during the period. NBT Bank N A NY grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 121.3% in the fourth quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 20,755 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,777,000 after purchasing an additional 11,375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Taika Capital LP increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the fourth quarter. Taika Capital LP now owns 20,882 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,800,000 after purchasing an additional 13,354 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This trade represents a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business’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 approximately $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price 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. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $185.00 price target (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $180.93 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $132.50 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.93, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $186.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.81.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

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.