Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 129.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,237 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,563,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,156,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $328,470,000 after acquiring an additional 4,400 shares during the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth $3,844,000. Finally, Dillon & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% during the third quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 50,650 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $17,322,000 after acquiring an additional 2,167 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $18,191,542.15. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This trade represents a 21.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $179.33 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $118.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $186.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.71. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $132.50 and a one year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. Equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.