ST Germain D J Co. Inc. Acquires 633 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 105,544 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 633 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $18,010,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 122.4% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 4,662 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $806,000 after buying an additional 2,566 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 109.3% during the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 19,378 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,526,000 after buying an additional 10,121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Journey Strategic Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 68.0% during the 4th quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 1,841 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $335,000 after acquiring an additional 745 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PANW. HSBC raised Palo Alto Networks from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $156.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Guggenheim reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a 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 report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two equities 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.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.3%

PANW opened at $194.86 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $178.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.88. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.01 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The stock has a market cap of $129.93 billion, a PE ratio of 109.78, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.