Sunbelt Securities Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 91.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,683 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $478,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. GSG Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 5,160 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,478,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 300 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 31.4% in the fourth quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 112,040 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $33,038,000 after purchasing an additional 26,767 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 24,726 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,291,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 46.4% during the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 4,178 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,325 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on PANW. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, June 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $364.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.17.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $325.26 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $105.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.28, a PEG ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 1.10. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $201.17 and a 52-week high of $380.84. The company’s 50 day moving average is $303.68 and its 200 day moving average is $306.50.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.92, for a total value of $497,517.32. Following the transaction, the president now owns 20,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,292,166.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.92, for a total value of $497,517.32. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 20,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,292,166.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 258,182 shares of company stock valued at $74,850,597. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.