Wincap Financial LLC Cuts Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Wincap Financial LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 5.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,980 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 332 shares during the quarter. Wincap Financial LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,020,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.2% during the first quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 69,118 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $11,794,000 after acquiring an additional 6,955 shares during the last quarter. AGP Franklin LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.9% in the first quarter. AGP Franklin LLC now owns 14,923 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,590,000 after acquiring an additional 2,155 shares during the last quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 18.1% during the first quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC now owns 19,030 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,247,000 after purchasing an additional 2,919 shares in the last quarter. Abbot Financial Management Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Abbot Financial Management Inc. now owns 10,040 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,713,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 9,985 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,704,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.66, for a total value of $19,866,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,243,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $644,356,888.56. This represents a 2.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $99,940.00. Following the sale, the director owned 8,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,640,080. This represents a 5.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 569,248 shares of company stock worth $111,279,829. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.0%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $203.27 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $186.91. The stock has a market cap of $135.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 116.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.67 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 posted 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. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.