Graney & King LLC Invests $59,000 in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 324 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 5,658 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% in the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,886,000 after acquiring an additional 11,095 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $244,871,000 after acquiring an additional 606,778 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,883 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $707,000 after purchasing an additional 934 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York Life Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 103.0% during the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 97,351 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $17,714,000 after purchasing an additional 49,391 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Guggenheim cut Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Loop Capital cut their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of 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. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $189.95 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $125.77 billion, a PE ratio of 107.01, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $132.50 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.38.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, 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 Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.