Garrison Point Advisors LLC Acquires 1,445 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Garrison Point Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,890 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,445 shares during the quarter. Garrison Point Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $526,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,316,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619 shares during the period. United Bank increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 6,835 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,336,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 60.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 437 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $149,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 128.6% in the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 10,452 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,572,000 after purchasing an additional 5,880 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 966.5% during the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 51,002 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $17,432,000 after purchasing an additional 46,220 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,854,038.83. The trade was a 41.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,114,786 shares of company stock valued at $200,426,637. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $153.57 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $101.68 billion, a PE ratio of 86.52, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.83 and a 52-week high of $208.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $185.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.22.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on 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. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.27.

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.