Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Position Reduced by Kovack Advisors Inc.

Kovack Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,826 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 683 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 0.9% of Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $8,827,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,118,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,239 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth approximately $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% in the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $150,520,000 after buying an additional 444,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $94,875,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $350.00 to $325.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Northland Securities upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $378.87.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.44, for a total value of $341,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 41,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,175,564.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.8 %

PANW stock traded up $7.16 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $405.18. The company had a trading volume of 420,422 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,856,912. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $356.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $334.54. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $234.15 and a fifty-two week high of $405.60. The company has a market cap of $131.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.90, a P/E/G ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current 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.