Valeo Financial Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Valeo Financial Advisors LLC cut its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 29,397 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 3,370 shares during the quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,033,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $261,000. Strive Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% in the first quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% during the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $457,279,000 after buying an additional 163,718 shares during the period. Richmond Investment Services LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% during the second quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $672,000 after buying an additional 1,531 shares during the period. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4,524.0% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 547,944 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $112,131,000 after buying an additional 536,094 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 target price (up previously from $236.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Tigress Financial assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, September 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price objective for the company. Thirty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.09.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of PANW opened at $191.69 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $133.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.32, a P/E/G ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $204.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $197.58. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.39, for a total transaction of $132,573.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,864,398.95. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at $14,685,690.72. This represents a 14.26% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,228,330 shares of company stock valued at $251,702,305. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.