Abbrea Capital LLC Buys Shares of 795 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Abbrea Capital LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 795 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Pacific Financial raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 421.7% during the 3rd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 120 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% in the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 277.8% in the 3rd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 136 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded down $5.03 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $288.79. 2,702,563 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,462,923. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $176.30 and a 1 year high of $380.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.45, a PEG ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50 day moving average of $290.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $291.86.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,955,958.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,955,958.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Wedbush boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $378.00 to $327.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Barclays reduced their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

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.