Valley Wealth Managers Inc. Raises Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 117.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,278 shares during the quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $766,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PANW. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price target (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.70.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,353,042.65. This represents a 21.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $208.28 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.04 and a 1-year high of $208.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $186.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $182.29. The firm has a market cap of $136.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.34, a PEG ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.