Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Purchases 5,491 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 94.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,332 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,491 shares during the quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,062,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $217.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $182.34 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $185.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.79. The company has a market cap of $120.73 billion, a PE ratio of 102.73, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.50 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last quarter. 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.