Private Advisor Group LLC Buys 1,974 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,073 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,974 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $7,393,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,511,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,215,410,000 after purchasing an additional 304,272 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,430,299 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $804,199,000 after acquiring an additional 86,995 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 83.1% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,616,803 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $771,643,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187,915 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $389,832,000 after purchasing an additional 36,859 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW traded down $3.62 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $301.90. The stock had a trading volume of 321,223 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,202,609. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $285.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $294.47. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.75 and a twelve month high of $380.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.17, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.18.

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. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Loop Capital downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 158,917 shares of company stock worth $44,335,843 in the last 90 days. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.