Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Purchased by Howland Capital Management LLC

Howland Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 24.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,058 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Csenge Advisory Group grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its stake in shares of 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. SYM FINANCIAL Corp grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 4,047 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $691,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 2,310 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $394,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JDM Financial Group LLC increased its stake in 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Guggenheim reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. HSBC upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $156.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Northland Securities reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.61.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $172.88 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.01 and a 1 year high of $210.39. The business’s fifty day moving average is $196.04 and its 200-day moving average is $187.20. The stock has a market cap of $115.28 billion, a PE ratio of 98.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total transaction of $1,009,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 101,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,414,099.75. This trade represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.66, for a total transaction of $19,866,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 3,243,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $644,356,888.56. This trade represents a 2.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 569,248 shares of company stock worth $111,279,829. Company 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.