Alps Advisors Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Alps Advisors Inc. lessened its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 24.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,232 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 4,243 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,258,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its position 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 valued at $8,004,000 after buying an additional 23,586 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 215.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,416 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $440,000 after buying an additional 1,651 shares in the last quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $209,000. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 111.8% during the 4th quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 1,762 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $187.39 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The company’s 50 day moving average is $195.04 and its 200 day moving average is $185.75. The company has a market cap of $124.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total transaction of $1,009,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 101,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,414,099.75. This represents a 4.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $99,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 8,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,640,080. This represents a 5.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 569,248 shares of company stock worth $111,279,829 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Stephens cut Palo Alto Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. 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 report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Northland Securities reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.00.

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.