Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 106.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,658 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 855 shares during the quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $302,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,156,000. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $24,414,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $328,470,000 after purchasing an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the third quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 40,173 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,731,000 after purchasing an additional 5,250 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. HSBC downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $208.28 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $136.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.04 and a 1 year high of $208.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $186.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $182.29.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal 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.