Dudley Capital Management LLC Purchases 665 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Dudley Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,330 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 665 shares during the quarter. Dudley Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $242,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Dallas Securities Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the third quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 2,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $728,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. RB Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 2,492 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $852,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the third quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC now owns 2,321 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $792,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,977 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $676,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zega Financial LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.8% in the third quarter. Zega Financial LLC now owns 5,997 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,050,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders have sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $184.79 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.35 billion, a PE ratio of 104.11, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $186.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $185.23. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.50 and a 52 week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during 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%. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Three equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.