Gables Capital Management Inc. Increases Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Gables Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 800 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Gables Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $146,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tradewinds LLC. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $791,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 2,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $728,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. now owns 2,138 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $731,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,989 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $680,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 1,220 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $417,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on PANW shares. Hsbc Global Res lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. KeyCorp upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.9 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $173.83 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $132.50 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $185.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.93, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 over the last quarter. 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.