Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by Bailard Inc.

Bailard Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,835 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,144,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. BIP Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,510 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,215,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 26,958 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,949,000 after buying an additional 427 shares during the period. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 5,543 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,630,000 after buying an additional 1,212 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,955,958.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at $67,955,958.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PANW. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $290.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $378.00 to $327.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of PANW traded down $4.73 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $289.09. The company had a trading volume of 1,766,673 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,450,312. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $290.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $291.86. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $176.30 and a 12-month high of $380.84. The company has a market capitalization of $93.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.45, a PEG ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current 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.