Brookstone Capital Management Acquires 8,611 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 48.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,404 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,611 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $7,502,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Webster Bank N. A. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% in the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 89.3% in the 1st quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 106 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.29.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.21, for a total transaction of $240,168.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,997,573.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.21, for a total transaction of $240,168.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,997,573.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 322 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total transaction of $99,820.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,167,770. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 258,182 shares of company stock valued at $74,850,597 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $340.82 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $304.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $306.64. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $201.17 and a 52-week high of $380.84. The company has a market cap of $110.36 billion, a PE ratio of 49.54, a P/E/G ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 1.10.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.07. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 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.