Cape Investment Advisory Inc. Acquires 273 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Cape Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 196.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 412 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $75,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $456,000. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 114.9% during the fourth quarter. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. now owns 34,137 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,212,000 after acquiring an additional 18,252 shares in the last quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 81.4% during the fourth quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 1,956 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $356,000 after acquiring an additional 878 shares in the last quarter. Onefund LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 101.5% during the fourth quarter. Onefund LLC now owns 1,713 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 863 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nixon Peabody Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 99.8% during the fourth quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 116,626 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $21,221,000 after acquiring an additional 58,244 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $190.43 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $132.50 and a 1 year high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.08 billion, a PE ratio of 107.29, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.54.

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

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Evercore ISI reduced 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. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.06.

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.