Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Has $18.85 Million Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 101.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 103,604 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 52,163 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 2.1% of Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $18,852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Connable Office Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 68.0% in the fourth quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 19,038 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,464,000 after buying an additional 7,709 shares in the last quarter. Flaharty Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 165.9% during the 4th quarter. Flaharty Asset Management LLC now owns 2,194 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $399,000 after acquiring an additional 1,369 shares during the period. Jacobi Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 110.6% during the 4th quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 3,546 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $645,000 after purchasing an additional 1,862 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.4% in the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 27,469 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,998,000 after purchasing an additional 14,287 shares during the period. Finally, Xcel Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 94.4% during the fourth quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,681 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,491,000 after purchasing an additional 11,986 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $190.43 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $186.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.32. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.50 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The company has a market cap of $126.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 107.29, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on PANW. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total transaction of $31,730,609.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $195,596,176.16. This represents a 13.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.