Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,832 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $697,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PANW. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $268,851,000 after acquiring an additional 129,371 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $36,316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,619 shares during the last quarter. United Bank boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 6,835 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $231,000. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 116.6% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 535 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $183,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on PANW. UBS Group boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, February 10th. HSBC downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $182.32 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $132.50 and a one year high of $208.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $186.59 and its 200 day moving average is $185.00. The firm has a market cap of $120.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.72, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.