Bell Investment Advisors Inc Grows Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Bell Investment Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 550 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. Bell Investment Advisors Inc’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $100,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $268,851,000 after purchasing an additional 129,371 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,316,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 857 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Equitable Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 1,329 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $673,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $195,596,176.16. The trade was a 13.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $180.93 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $119.79 billion, a PE ratio of 101.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.50 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $186.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.81.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price objective (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. HSBC downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.