174 Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Purchased by Cetera Trust Company N.A

Cetera Trust Company N.A acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 174 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nikulski Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 16,635 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,905,000 after buying an additional 597 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 100,666 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,684,000 after buying an additional 20,402 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,799 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,184,000 after buying an additional 1,460 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 29,040 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,563,000 after buying an additional 1,420 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,523 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,629,000 after buying an additional 490 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Redburn Atlantic boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Barclays cut their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $315.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.4 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $281.68 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $91.01 billion, a PE ratio of 44.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $176.30 and a 12 month high of $380.84. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $293.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $291.51.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. As a group, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553. Company insiders own 3.30% 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.