Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC

Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 154.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 37,208 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,607 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 1.3% of Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,770,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Tradewinds LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $791,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 2,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $728,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,989 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $680,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 1,220 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $417,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RB Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 2,492 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $852,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $176.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $116.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 99.34, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $185.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.73. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.50 and a 52 week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.