Dnca Finance Reduces Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Dnca Finance lessened its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 62.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 103,650 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 169,150 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks comprises 1.6% of Dnca Finance’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Dnca Finance’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $21,211,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. St. Clair Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,233,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% in the second quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,467 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% in the second quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 4,668 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $955,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. GSG Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the first quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,450 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,154,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 1,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $257,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total value of $1,020,950.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,629,805.65. This trade represents a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. This represents a 75.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 1,215,830 shares of company stock valued at $249,260,680 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target (up from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Thirty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.09.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $198.84 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.15 and a 1-year high of $223.61. The company has a market cap of $138.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 125.85, a PEG ratio of 4.70 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $205.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $197.25.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.56 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.