Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC Acquires 17,102 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 97.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,649 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,102 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 1.6% of Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. 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 acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% in the fourth 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. Finally, Abound Wealth Management raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PANW. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. BTIG Research downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Hsbc Global Res raised Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total value of $22,858,894.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 293,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,458,002.70. This trade represents a 29.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $188.23 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 106.05, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $175.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.73.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

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.