ZRC Wealth Management LLC Cuts Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

ZRC Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,558 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 225 shares during the quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $533,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the second quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $312,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,110 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management now owns 1,479 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $420,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 41.2% during the 4th quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 120 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, First County Bank CT boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. First County Bank CT now owns 3,537 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,043,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total transaction of $42,165,110.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,791,570. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total value of $42,165,110.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,791,570. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total transaction of $64,682.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,746.62. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 395,732 shares of company stock worth $130,785,557 over the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on PANW. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $369.26.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded up $6.42 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $342.36. 2,037,059 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,121,362. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $337.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $316.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.76, a P/E/G ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $233.81 and a 12 month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 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.