Gradient Capital Advisors LLC Has $225,000 Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Gradient Capital Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 16.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,320 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 266 shares during the quarter. Gradient Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $225,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the fourth 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. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 150 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. HSBC raised Palo Alto Networks from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $156.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Stephens lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.2%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $195.87 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $130.61 billion, a PE ratio of 112.00, a P/E/G ratio of 5.38 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $195.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.94. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total transaction of $1,009,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 101,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,414,099.75. The trade was a 4.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.00, for a total value of $122,400.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 41,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,452,332. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 569,248 shares of company stock valued at $111,279,829. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.