Wedmont Private Capital Grows Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 15.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,283 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,369 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,731,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. JDM Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 322 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Snider Financial Group lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Snider Financial Group now owns 17,729 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,025,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.4% in the fourth 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. Finally, Quarry LP grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 511 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $93,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $199.60 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The business’s fifty day moving average is $180.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.92. The firm has a market cap of $133.09 billion, a PE ratio of 112.45, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Roth Capital initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $210.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Stephens cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total value of $18,252,574.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. This trade represents a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.36, for a total transaction of $19,336,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,343,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $646,502,253.76. This trade represents a 2.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.