Appleton Partners Inc. MA Lowers Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA reduced its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 8.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 39,007 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 3,652 shares during the period. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,656,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $11,142,122,000 after purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,427,048,000 after acquiring an additional 4,486,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% in 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 in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $199.24 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.01 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 113.85, a P/E/G ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $187.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.31.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on PANW. Citigroup increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Hsbc Global Res raised Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Roth Capital initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 264,246 shares in the company, valued at $51,564,964.44. This represents a 31.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73% decrease in their position. 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 company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.