Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC Buys 260 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 4.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,144 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,048,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% in the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,378 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,226 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 5,658 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% in the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,886,000 after purchasing an additional 11,095 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $244,871,000 after purchasing an additional 606,778 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.36, for a total value of $19,336,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,343,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $646,502,253.76. This trade represents a 2.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $199.78 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.29. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.01 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The firm has a market cap of $133.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 114.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 0.97.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Roth Capital started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Stephens downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Two research 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 data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.00.

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.