Montag & Caldwell LLC Sells 26,911 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Montag & Caldwell LLC cut its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 35.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 48,785 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 26,911 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks comprises 2.5% of Montag & Caldwell LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Montag & Caldwell LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $14,386,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MV Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 233 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 1,519 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $448,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,527 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $450,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Howard Financial Services LTD. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 1,061 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, January 29th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Northland Securities lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total value of $17,059,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,327,194.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 122,917 shares of company stock valued at $33,959,203 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ PANW traded up $3.06 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $294.48. The company had a trading volume of 1,584,980 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,375,584. The firm has a market cap of $95.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $287.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $292.58. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $176.30 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.