Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 120.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 123,144 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 67,394 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $22,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PANW. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. BTIG Research downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, February 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $189.55 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.50 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $186.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.50 billion, a PE ratio of 106.79, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

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.