Park Avenue Securities LLC Has $9.27 Million Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 14.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 6,772 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $9,268,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 164.7% during the 1st quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 16,712 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,852,000 after purchasing an additional 10,398 shares during the period. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.7% during the 1st quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 37,771 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,445,000 after purchasing an additional 5,416 shares during the period. Barden Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,163 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,222,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 16,504 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,816,000 after purchasing an additional 4,479 shares during the period. Finally, Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.3% in the 1st quarter. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. now owns 2,755 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $470,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the company’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 directly owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73% 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, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’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 value of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at $48,629,704.62. The trade was a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.3%

PANW opened at $199.60 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $180.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.45, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PANW. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Hsbc Global Res raised Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. JMP Securities increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.00.

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.