Patten & Patten Inc. TN Has $259,000 Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Patten & Patten Inc. TN raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 143.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,426 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 840 shares during the period. Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $259,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 132.1% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 4,616 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $840,000 after acquiring an additional 2,627 shares during the period. CV Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $648,000. Centurion Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Centurion Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,236 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $225,000 after buying an additional 618 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 77.1% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 82,517 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $15,015,000 after buying an additional 35,913 shares during the period. Finally, Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC now owns 1,224 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 612 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. UBS Group upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. HSBC cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Guggenheim cut Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 quarter, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $182.34 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $120.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 102.73, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $132.50 and a 1 year high of $208.39. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $185.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal 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.