Hollencrest Capital Management Sells 696 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Hollencrest Capital Management trimmed its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,294 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 696 shares during the period. Hollencrest Capital Management’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,657,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,611,013,000 after acquiring an additional 6,725,148 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,533,419,000 after buying an additional 3,841,359 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,427,048,000 after acquiring an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,324,387,000 after acquiring an additional 1,088,631 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Northland Securities decreased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Roth Capital started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $195.80 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $195.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $185.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.56 billion, a PE ratio of 111.82, a P/E/G ratio of 5.38 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.01 and a 52 week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The business 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total transaction of $160,840.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 42,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,450,734.65. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total value of $1,009,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 101,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,414,099.75. This represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 569,248 shares of company stock valued at $111,279,829 over the last three months. Company 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.