GAMMA Investing LLC Takes Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 2,477 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $730,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Webster Bank N. A. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. First Pacific Financial grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 421.7% in the 3rd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 120 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 277.8% in the 3rd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 136 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,629,160. 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. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Capital One Financial cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $302.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 4.2 %

NASDAQ PANW traded up $11.81 on Tuesday, hitting $293.49. 4,060,803 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,531,698. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $293.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $291.51. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $176.30 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84. The company has a market cap of $94.83 billion, a PE ratio of 45.47, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19.

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

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.