Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 226.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,720 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,966 shares during the period. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,041,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank boosted 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 reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $198.81 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $187.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $182.84. The company has a market cap of $131.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.01, a PEG ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.04 and a 52-week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal 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.