Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Has $60.09 Million Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 352,158 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,797 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $60,092,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% in the fourth quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,378 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 1,226 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 5,658 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised 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 worth $3,886,000 after acquiring an additional 11,095 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $244,871,000 after purchasing an additional 606,778 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.9%

PANW opened at $198.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $132.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 111.61, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.01 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $185.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PANW. Roth Capital assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.14, for a total transaction of $23,567,838.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 264,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,564,964.44. The trade was a 31.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.