Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Sold by ABC Arbitrage SA

ABC Arbitrage SA lowered its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,014 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 193 shares during the quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,368,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings 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 valued at $1,533,419,000 after buying an additional 3,841,359 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,427,048,000 after purchasing an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,324,387,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088,631 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 98.0% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,158,580 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,120,615,000 after purchasing an additional 3,047,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 92.7% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,951,283 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,082,895,000 after acquiring an additional 2,862,718 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total transaction of $1,009,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 101,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,414,099.75. This represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.00, for a total transaction of $122,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 41,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,452,332. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 448,474 shares of company stock worth $88,420,934. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Northland Securities lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Stephens downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.61.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.1%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $171.00 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $210.39. The stock has a market cap of $114.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.71, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $195.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $187.32.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 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 return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.