AtonRa Partners Sells 221 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

AtonRa Partners cut its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 13.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,453 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 221 shares during the quarter. AtonRa Partners’ holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $428,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. First Pacific Financial increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 421.7% in the third quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 120 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% during the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 277.8% in the 3rd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 136 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:PANW traded up $1.99 on Monday, reaching $293.41. 2,980,002 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,393,582. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.19. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $176.30 and a 1-year high of $380.84. The company’s 50 day moving average is $287.61 and its 200-day moving average is $292.58.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.82.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 122,917 shares of company stock valued at $33,959,203 in the last ninety days. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.