Spire Wealth Management Buys 1,559 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Spire Wealth Management lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,500 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,559 shares during the quarter. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $8,109,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,511,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,215,410,000 after buying an additional 304,272 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,430,299 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $804,199,000 after purchasing an additional 86,995 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 83.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,616,803 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $771,643,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187,915 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 29,086.9% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,057,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $606,854,000 after purchasing an additional 2,050,917 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,662,820 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $389,832,000 after buying an additional 36,859 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of PANW traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $300.70. 413,757 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,210,382. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $285.94 and its 200-day moving average is $294.03. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $186.75 and a 1 year high of $380.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.18.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was 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 directly owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total value of $17,059,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,327,194.65. 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following 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 three months, insiders have sold 158,917 shares of company stock valued at $44,335,843. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on PANW. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $315.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, January 18th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Capital One Financial lowered Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $302.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Northland Securities downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.82.

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.