Emerald Advisers LLC Decreases Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Emerald Advisers LLC lowered its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 33.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,461 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,745 shares during the period. Emerald Advisers LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $591,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $11,142,122,000 after purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,611,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,427,048,000 after purchasing an additional 4,486,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,533,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. 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. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Guggenheim reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Roth Capital started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.4%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $187.39 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $124.95 billion, a PE ratio of 107.08, a P/E/G ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $195.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.73. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $208.39.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $99,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,640,080. This represents a 5.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total transaction of $1,009,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 101,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,414,099.75. This trade represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 569,248 shares of company stock valued at $111,279,829. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.