Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by Nicollet Investment Management Inc.

Nicollet Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 99.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,752 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,793 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up 2.0% of Nicollet Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Nicollet Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Dallas Securities Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% during the third quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 2,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $728,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. RB Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the third quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 2,492 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $852,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,977 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $676,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Zega Financial LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.8% in the third quarter. Zega Financial LLC now owns 5,997 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,050,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey Wright & Associates lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% during the third quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 9,853 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,368,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $170.64 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $112.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 96.14, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.48. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.50 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. The trade was a 21.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % 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. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on PANW. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Scotiabank increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.25.

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.