GraniteShares Advisors LLC Sells 177 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

GraniteShares Advisors LLC cut its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,294 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 177 shares during the quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,074,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the first quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 309,235 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $52,768,000 after purchasing an additional 4,605 shares in the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the first quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 130,925 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $22,341,000 after purchasing an additional 587 shares in the last quarter. First United Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.5% during the first quarter. First United Bank & Trust now owns 3,738 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $638,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.3% during the first quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 7,483 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,277,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axecap Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 28.9% during the first quarter. Axecap Investments LLC now owns 8,669 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 1,944 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. This trade represents a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased 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. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Northland Securities lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Stephens cut Palo Alto Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $197.67 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $183.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $185.12. The company has a market capitalization of $131.81 billion, a PE ratio of 111.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.01 and a 12-month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (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 net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

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.