Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV Buys 1,690 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 110.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,214 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,690 shares during the quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $585,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $268,851,000 after purchasing an additional 129,371 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in 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 stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 6,835 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $231,000. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 1,220 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. HSBC downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and cut their price target for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This trade represents a 21.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $183.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $185.89 and a 200-day moving average of $184.98. The stock has a market cap of $121.23 billion, a PE ratio of 103.16, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.50 and a 52-week high of $208.39.

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

Palo Alto Networks 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.