NTV Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

NTV Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 116.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,632 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 5,731 shares during the quarter. NTV Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,935,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth $1,156,000. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth $24,414,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $328,470,000 after acquiring an additional 4,400 shares during the period. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% during the third quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 40,173 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,731,000 after acquiring an additional 5,250 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Evercore ISI reduced 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 research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over 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.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $208.28 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $182.29. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $130.04 and a one year high of $208.35. The firm has a market cap of $136.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.24, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.