Tradewinds LLC. Decreases Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Tradewinds LLC. trimmed its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.8% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,548 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 132 shares during the quarter. Tradewinds LLC.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $776,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $11,142,122,000 after purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,611,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,427,048,000 after purchasing an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,533,419,000 after buying an additional 3,841,359 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on PANW. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Guggenheim reissued a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Stephens downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total transaction of $160,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 42,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,450,734.65. The trade was a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.36, for a total transaction of $19,336,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,343,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $646,502,253.76. This represents a 2.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 668,722 shares of company stock valued at $121,714,798 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.3%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $201.50 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $193.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.14, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.01 and a 52 week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.