Main Street Research LLC Increases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Main Street Research LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 93,621 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 568 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks comprises approximately 2.2% of Main Street Research LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Main Street Research LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $27,607,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at $26,000. First Pacific Financial lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 421.7% in the 3rd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 120 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Wedbush raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Northland Securities lowered Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $2.66 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $274.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,870,919 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,628,187. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.46, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.19. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $176.30 and a 12-month high of $380.84. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $302.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $289.99.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total transaction of $15,436,350.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,955,958.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total transaction of $15,436,350.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at $67,955,958.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.