BNC Wealth Management LLC Purchases 324 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

BNC Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 30,510 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 324 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up 1.9% of BNC Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. BNC Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,206,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,769,000. New England Research & Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the first quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. now owns 2,291 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $391,000 after buying an additional 1,071 shares during the last quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the first quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. now owns 30,609 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,223,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% during the first quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,020 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $174,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.4% during the first quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,423 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $413,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Roth Capital initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stephens lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Northland Securities decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $196.27 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The stock has a market cap of $130.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 110.58, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $184.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.11.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.14, for a total value of $23,567,838.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 264,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,564,964.44. The trade was a 31.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 789,736 shares of company stock worth $139,837,528. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.