Graham Capital Management L.P. Has $468,000 Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Graham Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 26.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $468,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% in the 4th 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. boosted 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 buying an additional 5,658 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% during 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 raised 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 acquiring an additional 606,778 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $192.90 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.01 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $177.09 and a 200-day moving average of $185.02. The company has a market cap of $127.72 billion, a PE ratio of 108.68, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at $48,629,704.62. This trade represents a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the business’s 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 sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price 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, UBS Group increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.22.

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.