Resonant Capital Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 52.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,311 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,165 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,861,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PANW. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. First Pacific Financial grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 421.7% in the third quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 120 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Capital One Financial cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $302.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,955,958.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,955,958.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553 in the last 90 days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of PANW opened at $277.71 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $295.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $290.40. The company has a market capitalization of $89.73 billion, a PE ratio of 43.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 1.19. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $176.30 and a 52-week high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

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.