Checchi Capital Advisers LLC Buys 1,426 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 107.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,757 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,426 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $502,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nelson Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Nelson Capital Management LLC now owns 1,424 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 712 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $244,871,000 after purchasing an additional 606,778 shares during the last quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.7% in the fourth quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 4,408 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $802,000 after purchasing an additional 2,255 shares during the last quarter. Sitrin Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 102.3% in the fourth quarter. Sitrin Capital Management LLC now owns 30,429 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,537,000 after purchasing an additional 15,388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisor OS LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 75.3% in the fourth quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 3,887 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,670 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on PANW. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. OTR Global restated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.8 %

PANW opened at $189.55 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.12. The company has a market cap of $125.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 106.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $132.50 and a 12-month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

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.