Fairfield Bush & CO. Grows Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Fairfield Bush & CO. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 80.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,384 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,397 shares during the quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $980,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $548,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,122,000 after buying an additional 5,658 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% in the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,886,000 after buying an additional 11,095 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $244,871,000 after buying an additional 606,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mosley Wealth Management boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 116.2% in the 4th quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 3,023 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 1,625 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of a number of research reports. BTIG Research lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 321,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. This trade represents a 27.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,039,318 shares of company stock worth $181,925,602. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $169.76 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $137.60 and a 1 year high of $208.39. The company has a market capitalization of $112.40 billion, a PE ratio of 95.64, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a fifty day moving average of $181.19 and a 200 day moving average of $184.73.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The business 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%. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share 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.