Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Purchased by Kimelman & Baird LLC

Kimelman & Baird LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Tradewinds LLC. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $791,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the third quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 2,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $728,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the third quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 1,220 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. RB Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the third quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 2,492 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $852,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Drive Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 928 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $317,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 3.4 %

PANW stock opened at $182.34 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.50 and a 52-week high of $208.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $185.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.93. The company has a market capitalization of $120.73 billion, a PE ratio of 102.73, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

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.