E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Trims Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. reduced its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,318 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 345 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,568,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 233 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Parisi Gray Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 1,519 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $448,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,527 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $450,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, Howard Financial Services LTD. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 1,061 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Redburn Atlantic raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Loop Capital lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $290.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Capital One Financial lowered Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $302.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $378.00 to $327.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of PANW stock traded down $7.34 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $295.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,001,741 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,209,132. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.49, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $285.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $294.47. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $186.75 and a one year high of $380.84.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 280,193 shares of company stock worth $80,670,132 in the last three months. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.