Abbrea Capital LLC Takes Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Abbrea Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 795 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cross Staff Investments Inc purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $221,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 130.0% during the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 5,360 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,581,000 after purchasing an additional 3,030 shares during the last quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 72,227 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $21,298,000 after purchasing an additional 4,620 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 20,835 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,144,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BIP Wealth LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $214,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.7 %

PANW stock traded down $5.03 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $288.79. The stock had a trading volume of 2,702,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,462,923. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $176.30 and a 52 week high of $380.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $290.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $291.86.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Loop Capital cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553 in the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.