AJOVista LLC Takes $98,000 Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

AJOVista LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 332 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $98,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Webster Bank N. A. lifted its stake 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 worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% during the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 277.8% during the third quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 136 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.82.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the president now owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 158,917 shares of company stock valued at $44,335,843 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW traded up $0.89 on Friday, hitting $296.21. 3,438,974 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,429,938. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $177.09 and a twelve month high of $380.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $285.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $293.25.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released 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. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current 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.