Physicians Financial Services Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Physicians Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 110.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,190 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,147 shares during the period. Physicians Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $398,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tradewinds LLC. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $791,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,741,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klingman & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 750 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This trade represents a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PANW. OTR Global reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. HSBC cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. 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 report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $198.81 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.04 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $182.95. The firm has a market cap of $131.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

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.