Beacon Capital Management LLC Buys 132 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 64.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 337 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $61,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tradewinds LLC. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $791,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 30 shares during 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 valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Geneva Partners LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,741,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Klingman & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the third quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 750 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $208.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.67 billion, a PE ratio of 54.24, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.04 and a fifty-two week high of $208.35. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $186.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $182.29.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on PANW. HSBC cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.70.

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.