Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC decreased its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 8.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,997 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,266 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,977,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% in the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% during the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 89.3% in the 1st quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 106 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Redburn Atlantic boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $364.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $365.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $326.29.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded up $1.13 on Friday, hitting $342.33. The company had a trading volume of 627,601 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,742,242. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $201.17 and a 1 year high of $380.84. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $311.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $308.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.75, a P/E/G ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total transaction of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $373,434,232.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.54, for a total transaction of $22,436,448.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 694,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $233,635,491.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total transaction of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $373,434,232.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 302,525 shares of company stock worth $93,982,207. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

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.