L & S Advisors Inc Has $12.12 Million Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

L & S Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 88.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 66,592 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 31,237 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 1.3% of L & S Advisors Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. L & S Advisors Inc’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $12,117,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 400 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. BlueChip Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 54.5% in the 4th quarter. BlueChip Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,860 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $338,000 after acquiring an additional 656 shares during the period. Strategy Asset Managers LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 117.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 1,521 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 820 shares during the last quarter. Allianz SE acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $14,683,000. Finally, Mechanics Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.8% in the fourth quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 6,258 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,094 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Three research 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $172.76 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $187.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.31. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.50 and a 52-week high of $208.39. The company has a market capitalization of $114.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its 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 net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Analysts forecast 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 490,723 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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 directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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 approximately $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 in the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.