Raymond James & Associates Has $176.36 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 598,082 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,602 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned 0.19% of Palo Alto Networks worth $176,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,511,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,215,410,000 after acquiring an additional 304,272 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $751,276,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,430,299 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $804,199,000 after buying an additional 86,995 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,376,601 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $673,731,000 after purchasing an additional 92,760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,662,820 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $389,832,000 after acquiring an additional 36,859 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total transaction of $17,059,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,327,194.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 143,153 shares of company stock worth $44,107,332. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $286.78 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $176.30 and a 1 year high of $380.84. The company has a market capitalization of $92.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.81, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s fifty day moving average is $322.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $285.55.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, January 18th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $378.00 to $327.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.82.

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.