Lmcg Investments LLC Raises Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Lmcg Investments LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,378 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 344 shares during the quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,600,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 322 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.4% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 511 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 150 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.6%

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $197.18 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $179.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.06. The company has a market cap of $131.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.01 and a 52 week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of several recent research reports. JMP Securities boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. HSBC upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $156.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,343,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $646,502,253.76. The trade was a 2.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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. The trade was a 41.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 668,962 shares of company stock worth $116,269,690 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.