Garrison Point Advisors LLC Grows Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Garrison Point Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,890 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,445 shares during the period. Garrison Point Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $526,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PANW. First Dallas Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% during the third quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 2,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $728,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. RB Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 2,492 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $852,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,977 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $676,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Zega Financial LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Zega Financial LLC now owns 5,997 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,050,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Dorsey Wright & Associates raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% in the third quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 9,853 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,368,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. The trade was a 41.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,114,786 shares of company stock valued at $200,426,637. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $153.57 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $132.83 and a 1 year high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $185.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.22.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective (down previously from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. BTIG Research lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.27.

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.