Vestor Capital LLC Purchases 33,294 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Vestor Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 63.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 85,780 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,294 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 1.2% of Vestor Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Vestor Capital LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $15,609,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $244,871,000 after acquiring an additional 606,778 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,883 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $707,000 after acquiring an additional 934 shares in the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 103.0% during the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 97,351 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $17,714,000 after acquiring an additional 49,391 shares in the last quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 96.8% during the fourth quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI now owns 3,070 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $559,000 after acquiring an additional 1,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trinity Legacy Partners LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 107.5% in the fourth quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC now owns 26,672 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,853,000 after purchasing an additional 13,819 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $182.32 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $120.71 billion, a PE ratio of 102.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $186.59 and its 200 day moving average is $185.00. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $132.50 and a 1 year high of $208.39.

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

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and cut their price target for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

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.