Sowell Financial Services LLC Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 18,293 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,329,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,173 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $328,470,000 after purchasing an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,844,000. Dillon & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 50,650 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $17,322,000 after purchasing an additional 2,167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proactive Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,571,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $180.93 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.81. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $132.50 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The company has a market cap of $119.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 101.93, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. Sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 target price (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.