BLB&B Advisors LLC Buys 4,264 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

by · The Markets Daily

BLB&B Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW – Free Report) by 5.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 85,355 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,264 shares during the quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $14,565,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 322 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the first quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC now owns 3,067 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $523,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 18,983 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,239,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adero Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 1,556 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Stephens lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.00.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $204.64 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $136.45 billion, a PE ratio of 116.94, a P/E/G ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $142.01 and a one year high of $208.39. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $191.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.28.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total value of $1,009,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 101,135 shares in the company, valued at $20,414,099.75. The trade was a 4.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 317,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 795,536 shares of company stock worth $141,007,618. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

(Free Report)

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.

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