Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE Purchases New Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 42,677 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,282,000. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 1.3% of Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 6,725,148 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,427,048,000 after acquiring an additional 4,486,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,533,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,841,359 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $586,132,981.56. This represents a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. The trade was a 41.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $197.67 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $183.28 and its 200-day moving average is $185.12. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.01 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 111.36, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal 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.