Jasper Ridge Partners L.P. Buys 7,593 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Jasper Ridge Partners L.P. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,186 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,593 shares during the quarter. Jasper Ridge Partners L.P.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,763,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 906 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $165,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 70.3% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abound Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% during the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. HSBC upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $156.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.06.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $186.93 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $176.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.76. The company has a market capitalization of $123.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.31, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.01 and a 1 year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690. Insiders own 2.50% 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.