Yousif Capital Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Yousif Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 44,203 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 671 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $13,035,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. MV Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 233 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 1,519 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $448,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Howard Financial Services LTD. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 1,061 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 206 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW traded up $0.47 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $293.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,014,482 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,485,953. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $176.30 and a twelve month high of $380.84. The stock has a market cap of $94.98 billion, a PE ratio of 46.01, a PEG ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $292.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $291.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the transaction, the president now owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,659,063. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553 in the last 90 days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on PANW. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $378.00 to $327.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.82.

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.