Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Stake Lifted by Rational Advisors LLC

Rational Advisors LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 98.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,422 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,199 shares during the period. Rational Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $441,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PANW. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% during the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 834 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $268,851,000 after buying an additional 129,371 shares in the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth approximately $253,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 6,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,187,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $36,316,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $208.28 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.24, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s fifty day moving average is $186.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $182.29. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.04 and a 52-week high of $208.35.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.70.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.