Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Sold by Catalina Capital Group LLC

Catalina Capital Group LLC lowered its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 49.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,519 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,471 shares during the period. Catalina Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 150 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 102.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Guggenheim restated a “sell” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $199.78 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $186.18 and its 200-day moving average is $185.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 114.16, a P/E/G 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 announced 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 company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The business’s revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 31.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was 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 directly owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.