Forte Capital LLC ADV Boosts Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Forte Capital LLC ADV lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 13.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 304 shares during the quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $732,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,511,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,215,410,000 after purchasing an additional 304,272 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,430,299 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $804,199,000 after buying an additional 86,995 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 83.1% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,616,803 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $771,643,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187,915 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 29,086.9% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,057,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $606,854,000 after acquiring an additional 2,050,917 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,662,820 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $389,832,000 after purchasing an additional 36,859 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on PANW. Northland Securities lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $315.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Redburn Atlantic increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total value of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,295,567 shares in the company, valued at $373,434,232.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total transaction of $10,376,640.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $373,434,232.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 158,917 shares of company stock worth $44,335,843 in the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded up $0.89 during trading on Friday, hitting $296.21. 3,438,974 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,429,938. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $285.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $293.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.28, a PEG ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 1.18. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $177.09 and a 12-month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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.