GC Wealth Management RIA LLC Boosts Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

GC Wealth Management RIA LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 121.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,641 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $663,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after buying an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $328,470,000 after buying an additional 4,400 shares during the period. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,844,000. Dillon & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 50,650 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $17,322,000 after buying an additional 2,167 shares during the period. Finally, Proactive Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,571,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.9 %

PANW stock opened at $178.93 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $118.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 100.81, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $132.50 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $185.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.83.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

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.