Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Acquired by Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 101.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 29,990 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,132 shares during the period. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,457,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,609,486,000 after purchasing an additional 220,900 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,048,033,000 after buying an additional 2,612,474 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $764,764,000 after buying an additional 2,197,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $388,155,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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 directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. KeyCorp upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.9 %

PANW stock opened at $182.32 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $186.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.14. The stock has a market cap of $120.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.72, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.