Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC Acquires 3,409 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 93.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,040 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,409 shares during the quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,281,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $185.00 target price (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $180.93 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $186.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.81. The firm has a market cap of $119.79 billion, a PE ratio of 101.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.50 and a 52 week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $195,596,176.16. This represents a 13.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks 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.