Icon Advisers Inc. Co. Sells 5,419 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Icon Advisers Inc. Co. decreased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 26.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 15,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 5,419 shares during the quarter. Icon Advisers Inc. Co.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,070,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $28,000. MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Dagco Inc. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, November 24th. Thirty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. The trade was a 75.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total transaction of $23,081,119.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,954 shares in the company, valued at $34,008,788.94. The trade was a 40.43% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 1,215,130 shares of company stock worth $249,031,488 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $190.32 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $207.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $197.25. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The company has a market capitalization of $132.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 120.45, a P/E/G ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 0.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share 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.