Flaharty Asset Management LLC Purchases 1,369 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Flaharty Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 165.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,194 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,369 shares during the quarter. Flaharty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $399,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,156,000. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $24,414,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position 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 buying an additional 1,050,173 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $328,470,000 after buying an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chartwell Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,844,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. OTR Global restated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued 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.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.6 %

PANW opened at $190.43 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $126.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.29, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $132.50 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $186.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.32.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This represents a 21.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.