Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Increases Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 85.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 32,955 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,205 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,997,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% during the 4th quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Abound Wealth Management raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% during the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 265.0% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 102.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BTIG Research lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 target price (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $230.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $172.76 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $114.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.33, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.50 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $187.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.39.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.