Proficio Capital Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 57,366.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 439,615 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 438,850 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Palo Alto Networks worth $79,992,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Swedbank AB grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 129,371 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,619 shares during the period. MONECO Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 791 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 613.9% during the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 257 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Finally, Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV now owns 3,088 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of several analyst reports. JMP Securities increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. OTR Global restated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $187.50 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $186.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.14. The company has a market cap of $124.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.63, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $132.50 and a 12 month 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. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

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.