WBH Advisory Inc. Invests $210,000 in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

WBH Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,152 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Swedbank AB increased its stake 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 worth $268,851,000 after purchasing an additional 129,371 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth $253,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in 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 worth $36,316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,619 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 222.6% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,949 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,200 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,435,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $205.19 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.04 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The company has a market cap of $134.65 billion, a PE ratio of 115.60, a P/E/G ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50-day moving average of $187.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $182.68.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced 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 net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.