Pegasus Asset Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Pegasus Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 9,422 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,608,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after buying an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Roanoke Asset Management Corp NY lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Roanoke Asset Management Corp NY now owns 1,530 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $278,000 after buying an additional 765 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 115.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 43,985 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,004,000 after buying an additional 23,586 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.2% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 8,050 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,511,000 after buying an additional 4,183 shares during the period. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $203,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $202.05 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $185.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.16. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $142.01 and a one year high of $208.39. The firm has a market cap of $134.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.46, a P/E/G ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Stephens downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. HSBC upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $156.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.14, for a total value 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 approximately $51,564,964.44. This represents a 31.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.36, for a total transaction of $19,336,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,343,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $646,502,253.76. This represents a 2.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 789,736 shares of company stock worth $139,837,528 in the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.