Advisor Resource Council Takes $877,000 Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Advisor Resource Council bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,565 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $877,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% in the third quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $79,149,000 after buying an additional 32,626 shares in the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC boosted its position in 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 valued at $1,244,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $67,232,000 after acquiring an additional 7,291 shares during the last quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 2,695 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $914,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 38.6% during the first quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,229 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,043,000 after purchasing an additional 3,965 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $378.49.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $385.18 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $125.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $234.15 and a fifty-two week high of $386.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $353.98 and its 200 day moving average is $331.32.

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 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 firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.44, for a total transaction of $341,440.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 41,517 shares in the company, valued at $14,175,564.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.