Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 312.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 101,269 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 76,687 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $18,427,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Tradewinds LLC. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $791,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $119,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,741,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klingman & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% in the third quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 750 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. OTR Global reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 4.1 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $208.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $136.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.24, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $186.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $182.29. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.04 and a 52 week high of $208.35.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.