Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Acquired by Cynosure Group LLC

Cynosure Group LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 32.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,488 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the period. Cynosure Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $271,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bryce Point Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,821,000. Huntington National Bank raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 114.7% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 479,352 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $87,223,000 after acquiring an additional 256,042 shares in the last quarter. Disciplina Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Disciplina Capital Management LLC now owns 172 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 99.9% in the fourth quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 5,273 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $960,000 after purchasing an additional 2,635 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 150 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.27.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 7.0 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $153.57 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $185.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $185.10. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $132.63 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The company has a market cap of $101.68 billion, a PE ratio of 86.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $195,596,176.16. This represents a 13.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,114,786 shares of company stock worth $200,426,637 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is 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.