Cozad Asset Management Inc. Lowers Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,385 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 98 shares during the quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,530,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. now owns 2,463 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $726,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 204 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 233 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parisi Gray Wealth Management lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 1,519 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $448,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. DA Davidson began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, June 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $380.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $384.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $327.00 to $334.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total value of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $373,434,232.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total value of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $373,434,232.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total value of $67,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,443,916. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 428,391 shares of company stock worth $136,147,317. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded down $6.36 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $332.14. The company had a trading volume of 2,311,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,604,710. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $317.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $310.31. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $201.17 and a 52-week high of $380.84. The stock has a market cap of $107.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.88, a PEG ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current 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.