Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Purchased by MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC

MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 97.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 18,447 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 9,087 shares during the quarter. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,357,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 906 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $165,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 70.3% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 511 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Loop Capital reduced their price target 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. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $192.00 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $176.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.90. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.01 and a 1 year high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.12 billion, a PE ratio of 108.17, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. The trade was a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.