Gryphon Financial Partners LLC Buys 3,441 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Gryphon Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 136.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,959 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,441 shares during the period. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,084,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $268,851,000 after purchasing an additional 129,371 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.5% in the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $751,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Optas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.2% during the third quarter. Optas LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $342,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $190.43 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $186.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.54. The firm has a market cap of $126.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $132.50 and a twelve month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for 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%. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. HSBC downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.