Great Diamond Partners LLC Has $317,000 Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Great Diamond Partners LLC decreased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 4.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 52 shares during the period. Great Diamond Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $317,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PANW. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% during the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% during the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ulland Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total transaction of $42,165,110.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,791,570. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total transaction of $42,165,110.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,791,570. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.92, for a total value of $497,517.32. Following the sale, the president now owns 20,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,292,166.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 428,391 shares of company stock valued at $136,147,317 in the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of PANW traded down $6.36 on Wednesday, hitting $332.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,310,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,604,710. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $317.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $310.31. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $201.17 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.88, a P/E/G ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $360.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $364.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Argus lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $336.00 to $348.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and one has given 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 price target of $326.20.

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.