Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Decreases Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lessened its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 94.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 839 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 14,339 shares during the quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $171,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,016,374 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,100,311,000 after buying an additional 1,240,830 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,174,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,093,262,000 after acquiring an additional 169,055 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,902,048 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,177,765,000 after acquiring an additional 950,765 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,295,588 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,083,689,000 after acquiring an additional 377,496 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,476,638 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $916,099,000 after purchasing an additional 54,601 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $187.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 118.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.79. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $203.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $197.55.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.79.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total transaction of $1,020,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 96,135 shares in the company, valued at $19,629,805.65. The trade was a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. This represents a 75.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,228,330 shares of company stock worth $251,702,305. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.