WINTON GROUP Ltd Sells 89,697 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

WINTON GROUP Ltd lowered its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 86.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,492 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 89,697 shares during the quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,966,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. MTM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Dagco Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.39, for a total transaction of $132,573.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,864,398.95. This trade represents a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total transaction of $26,321,485.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 356,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,675,777.46. This trade represents a 25.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 1,215,830 shares of company stock valued at $249,260,680 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Guggenheim upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.09.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $195.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $136.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 123.64, a PEG ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.79. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $205.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $197.43.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.56 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

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.