Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Purchases 67,394 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 120.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 123,144 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 67,394 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $22,407,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Swedbank AB boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $268,851,000 after buying an additional 129,371 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,316,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 14.2% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 66,217 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $22,633,000 after buying an additional 8,246 shares during the period. MONECO Advisors LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 15.1% during the third quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 791 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $270,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobsen Capital Management purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at about $222,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $189.55 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $132.50 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The company has a market cap of $125.50 billion, a PE ratio of 106.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.12.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS 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 business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. 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 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on PANW. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays dropped their target price 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. BTIG Research lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

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.