Hardy Reed LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Hardy Reed LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,208 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 5,104 shares during the quarter. Hardy Reed LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tradewinds LLC. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the third 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 period. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Geneva Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,741,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Klingman & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the third quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 750 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $205.19 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $135.86 billion, a PE ratio of 115.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.04 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $187.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $182.68.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. OTR Global reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price (down previously from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Three research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.