B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Purchases Shares of 509,431 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 509,431 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $174,124,000. Palo Alto Networks comprises 1.7% of B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG's investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG owned 0.16% of Palo Alto Networks at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PANW. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 25,490 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $7,243,000 after acquiring an additional 2,748 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 64.4% during the 1st quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 2,530 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $719,000 after acquiring an additional 991 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $536,000. InterOcean Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.1% in the first quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 1,425 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.3% during the first quarter. Natixis now owns 31,747 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $9,020,000 after purchasing an additional 14,328 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $391.92.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.3 %

Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $1.23 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $388.06. 2,374,571 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,836,183. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $249.56 and a 52-week high of $408.53. The business's 50-day moving average price is $360.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $337.38.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The firm's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by 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.