Ceera Investments LLC Has $227,000 Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Ceera Investments LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,250 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the quarter. Ceera Investments LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $328,470,000 after purchasing an additional 4,400 shares during the period. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,844,000. Dillon & Associates Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 50,650 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $17,322,000 after purchasing an additional 2,167 shares during the period. Finally, Proactive Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,571,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 price target (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Three investment 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.9 %

PANW stock opened at $180.93 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.79 billion, a PE ratio of 101.93, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $132.50 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.78.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $195,596,176.16. This trade represents a 13.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.