Wayfinding Financial LLC Buys Shares of 1,330 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,330 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth about $39,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% during the 4th quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $184.01 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.00. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $132.50 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The company has a market capitalization of $121.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.67, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Guggenheim lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.