Sentry Investment Management LLC Trims Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Sentry Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,605 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 172 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $473,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 61.8% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 55 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,961 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,843,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 425 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $265,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 452 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $281,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $310.00 to $305.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $272.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.93 billion, a PE ratio of 42.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $302.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $289.99. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $176.30 and a 12-month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.