Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by Garde Capital Inc.

Garde Capital Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 120.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,614 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 882 shares during the quarter. Garde Capital Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $294,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. JDM Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 322 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 906 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $165,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 70.3% in the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total value of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on PANW. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.40.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $186.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $123.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.21, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The business’s 50-day moving average is $178.11 and its 200-day moving average is $185.30.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.