Petredis Investment Advisors LLC Makes New $2.45 Million Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Petredis Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 14,338 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,447,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 worth $2,611,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,533,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,427,048,000 after purchasing an additional 4,486,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,324,387,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088,631 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $196.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $130.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 110.61, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $180.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.95. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.01 and a 12 month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PANW shares. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.14, for a total value of $23,567,838.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 264,246 shares in the company, valued at $51,564,964.44. This represents a 31.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528 in the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.