Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC Buys New Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 607 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Trust Point Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $327,000. Advisors Preferred LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $1,742,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,367 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $698,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 30.5% in the fourth quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 9,272 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,734,000 after acquiring an additional 2,165 shares during the period. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 12,299 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,627,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PANW. Macquarie increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Argus raised 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $385.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $360.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $325.59.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded up $7.75 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $301.93. 3,216,819 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,434,475. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $321.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $311.66. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $201.17 and a 1-year high of $380.84. The firm has a market cap of $97.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.16, for a total value of $12,209,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,223,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $414,984,983.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the firm’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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at $55,791,570. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $339.16, for a total value of $12,209,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,223,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $414,984,983.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 307,315 shares of company stock worth $100,940,790 over the last 90 days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.