Aspect Partners LLC Has $57,000 Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Aspect Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 312 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Aspect Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $57,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $268,851,000 after acquiring an additional 129,371 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $36,316,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.0% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 6,541 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,236,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 351 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $120,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Calton & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 59.2% during the 3rd quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. now owns 1,094 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price target (down previously from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $205.19 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $187.11 and its 200 day moving average is $182.68. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $130.04 and a one year high of $208.39. The stock has a market cap of $135.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.60, a P/E/G ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.