Longbow Finance SA Has $5.51 Million Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Longbow Finance SA boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 109.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 30,278 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,856 shares during the period. Longbow Finance SA’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,509,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tradewinds LLC. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $791,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $119,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Geneva Partners LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,741,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 750 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carr Financial Group Corp grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 715 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on PANW. 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 note on Tuesday, January 21st. OTR Global reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price target (down previously from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.69.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $190.39 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $132.50 and a 1 year high of $208.39. The company’s 50-day moving average is $186.85 and its 200 day moving average is $183.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 107.26, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.