Atwood & Palmer Inc. Has $232,000 Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Atwood & Palmer Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 149.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,362 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 816 shares during the period. Atwood & Palmer Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $232,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,611,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,533,419,000 after buying an additional 3,841,359 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,427,048,000 after buying an additional 4,486,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,324,387,000 after buying an additional 1,088,631 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $196.33 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $180.94 and its 200-day moving average is $184.95. The company has a market cap of $130.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.61, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The business 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 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, May 19th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.00.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks 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 transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,038.83. The trade was a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 789,736 shares of company stock worth $139,837,528. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.