Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 9.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 292 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 31 shares during the quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $99,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 91.0% in the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,683 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $478,000 after buying an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $799,792,000 after acquiring an additional 198,078 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% in the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 26,404 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,502,000 after purchasing an additional 8,611 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the first quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,377 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,244,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connectus Wealth LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Connectus Wealth LLC now owns 43,813 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,920,000 after purchasing an additional 8,132 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total transaction of $42,165,110.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,791,570. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.54, for a total value of $22,436,448.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 694,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $233,635,491.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total transaction of $42,165,110.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at $55,791,570. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 464,075 shares of company stock valued at $154,029,567 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $344.17 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $111.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.02, a PEG ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50 day moving average of $336.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $313.98. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $224.64 and a 52 week high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $336.00 to $348.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $366.08.

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.