Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Has $157,000 Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 117.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 865 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 468 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $157,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,156,000. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $24,414,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $328,470,000 after purchasing an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% during the third quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 40,173 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,731,000 after purchasing an additional 5,250 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.5 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $205.19 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.04 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $187.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $182.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.60, a P/E/G ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. HSBC downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.