Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Has $1.90 Million Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management cut its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 45.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,453 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 5,418 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,511,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,215,410,000 after buying an additional 304,272 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,430,299 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $804,199,000 after acquiring an additional 86,995 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 83.1% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,616,803 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $771,643,000 after buying an additional 1,187,915 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 29,086.9% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,057,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $606,854,000 after buying an additional 2,050,917 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,662,820 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $389,832,000 after buying an additional 36,859 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Loop Capital cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 target price on the stock. in a 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 report on Wednesday, January 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.6 %

PANW traded up $4.95 on Tuesday, reaching $305.52. The stock had a trading volume of 4,603,981 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,257,741. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $186.75 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $285.75 and a 200-day moving average of $294.47. The company has a market capitalization of $98.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.18.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total value of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $373,434,232.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total value of $10,376,640.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $373,434,232.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 158,917 shares of company stock valued at $44,335,843 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

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.