Evergreen Capital Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Evergreen Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 16.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 51,807 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 10,446 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $10,602,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $191.69 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $133.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s 50 day moving average is $204.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.51. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.15 and a twelve month high of $223.61.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stephens lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. JMP Securities raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Tigress Financial started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, September 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Thirty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,629,805.65. The trade was a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,119,152.78. This represents a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,228,330 shares of company stock worth $251,702,305. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.