Snowden Capital Advisors LLC Buys 33,465 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Snowden Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 102.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 66,049 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 33,465 shares during the quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $12,018,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 65.0% during the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 22,037 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,010,000 after buying an additional 8,680 shares during the period. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 103.0% in the fourth quarter. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 28,480 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,603,000 after purchasing an additional 14,453 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 94.4% during the fourth quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 38,922 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,082,000 after buying an additional 18,896 shares during the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 98.6% during the fourth quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 6,548 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,191,000 after buying an additional 3,251 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 100.9% in the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 295,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $53,824,000 after buying an additional 148,583 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $192.90 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $177.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.02. The firm has a market cap of $127.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $586,132,981.56. This represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. HSBC raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $156.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.22.

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.