Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Position Boosted by Sanctuary Advisors LLC

Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 93.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 187,729 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 90,736 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $35,184,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Rational Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 98.0% in the 4th quarter. Rational Advisors LLC now owns 2,422 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $441,000 after buying an additional 1,199 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 117.9% in the 4th quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 865 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $157,000 after buying an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.6% in the 4th quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 4,990 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $908,000 after buying an additional 2,465 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 152.7% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,035,235 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $188,371,000 after buying an additional 625,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 238,564 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $43,409,000 after buying an additional 119,282 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. StockNews.com lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.70.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $208.28 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $186.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $182.29. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.04 and a fifty-two week high of $208.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.