Canopy Partners LLC Has $300,000 Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Canopy Partners LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 53.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,650 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 573 shares during the quarter. Canopy Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $300,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $548,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $2,122,000 after buying an additional 5,658 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 11,095 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $244,871,000 after buying an additional 606,778 shares during the period. Finally, Mosley Wealth Management grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 116.2% during the fourth quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 3,023 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 1,625 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 818,544 shares of company stock worth $147,132,028. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $153.57 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $185.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.36. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.83 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.52, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07.

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 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 company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.