Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 7,973 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $2,725,000. Palo Alto Networks comprises about 2.7% of Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during 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 period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $150,520,000 after buying an additional 444,100 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth $94,875,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,099,564,000 after buying an additional 255,060 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.9 %

PANW stock traded down $7.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $387.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,204,087 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,849,976. The company has a market cap of $126.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.12. The business's 50 day moving average price is $359.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $336.07. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $234.15 and a 12 month high of $408.53.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued 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. 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 for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $14,175,564.48. The trade was a 2.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, 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 a total of 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Westpark Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $381.56.

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.