Plato Investment Management Ltd Buys 138 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,748 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,610,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 91.0% during the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,683 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $478,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $799,792,000 after acquiring an additional 198,078 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $7,502,000 after acquiring an additional 8,611 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 lifted its position 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 valued at $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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, August 19th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $350.00 to $325.00 in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $366.08.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $346.90 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $112.95 billion, a PE ratio of 50.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $224.64 and a 52 week high of $380.84. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $336.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $312.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total value of $500,202.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 19,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,452,097.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total transaction of $500,202.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 19,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,452,097.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 464,075 shares of company stock valued at $154,029,567. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

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.