RWA Wealth Partners LLC Raises Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

RWA Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 105.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 64,108 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 32,950 shares during the quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $11,665,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Portland Global Advisors LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 96.3% during the fourth quarter. Portland Global Advisors LLC now owns 50,989 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $9,278,000 after purchasing an additional 25,014 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 105.3% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,080,724 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $378,609,000 after buying an additional 1,067,204 shares during the period. American Money Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 86.6% in the fourth quarter. American Money Management LLC now owns 6,300 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,146,000 after buying an additional 2,923 shares during the last quarter. L & S Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 88.4% during the fourth quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 66,592 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,117,000 after acquiring an additional 31,237 shares during the period. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% during the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 400 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.0 %

PANW opened at $172.76 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.50 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.39. The firm has a market cap of $114.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.33, 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current 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.