Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Buys 2,497 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 25.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,279 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,497 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,489,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Toth Financial Advisory Corp grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34.4% in the 1st quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 285 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Opinicus Capital Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 11.8% during the first quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. now owns 1,737 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $494,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.1% during the first quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 25,745 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,315,000 after buying an additional 776 shares in the last quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 66.7% in the first quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 2,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $568,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Reliant Investment Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Reliant Investment Management LLC now owns 16,735 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,755,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on PANW shares. Argus boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $336.00 to $348.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Daiwa Capital Markets started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.29.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $339.01 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $307.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $307.16. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $201.17 and a 1 year high of $380.84. The company has a market capitalization of $109.77 billion, a PE ratio of 49.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 1.10.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share (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 previous year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.92, for a total transaction of $497,517.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 20,501 shares in the company, valued at $6,292,166.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 258,182 shares of company stock worth $74,850,597 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks 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.