Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC Has $11.03 Million Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 99.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 60,610 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,205 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 0.9% of Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $11,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $268,851,000 after acquiring an additional 129,371 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,316,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619 shares during the last quarter. United Bank boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 6,835 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,989 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $680,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $231,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of PANW opened at $176.32 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $185.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.73. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $132.50 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $116.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.34, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.