Veridan Wealth LLC Invests $238,000 in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Veridan Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,301 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $238,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,609,486,000 after buying an additional 220,900 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,048,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,474 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,005,161 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $685,364,000 after purchasing an additional 31,595 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $333,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 107.8% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,634,701 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $297,450,000 after purchasing an additional 848,127 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $187.50 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.50 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The stock has a market cap of $124.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.63, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $186.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

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.