Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Purchased by Meridiem Investment Management Ltd.

Meridiem Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 47.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 960 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the period. Meridiem Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $175,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 95.6% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,369 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $431,000 after buying an additional 1,158 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 94.8% during the 4th quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 15,038 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,736,000 after acquiring an additional 7,318 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $203,000. L.M. Kohn & Company raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 110.8% in the 4th quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 3,776 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 94.8% during the fourth quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,826 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,788,000 after purchasing an additional 4,783 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $208.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.24, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.04 and a 1-year high of $208.35. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $186.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.29.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.