Wealth Architects LLC Raises Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Wealth Architects LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 85.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,444 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the quarter. Wealth Architects LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $263,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% in the fourth quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Abound Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 265.0% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 102.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. JMP Securities increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. HSBC downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $185.00 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $185.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $132.50 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The company has a market capitalization of $122.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 104.23, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $18,191,542.15. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. The trade was a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $195,596,176.16. This represents a 13.96 % 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. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.