Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC Sells 744 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 15.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,930 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 744 shares during the quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $671,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 322 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 906 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $165,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 511 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 150 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. UBS Group lifted 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 report on Friday, February 14th. Roth Capital initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, May 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $194.07 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $129.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.34, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $179.38 and a 200-day moving average of $185.03. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $142.01 and a one year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at $48,629,704.62. This trade represents a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 668,962 shares of company stock valued at $116,269,690. 2.50% of the stock is owned by 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.