Gouws Capital LLC Makes New $1.02 Million Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Gouws Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,970 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,015,000. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 0.7% of Gouws Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. FLC Capital Advisors raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,379,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $357,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Geneva Partners LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,741,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of several research reports. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Northland Securities raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Oppenheimer raised 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 note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, OTR Global reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $381.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks 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 value of $341,440.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 41,517 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,175,564.48. The trade was a 2.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business's 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 $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of PANW traded down $7.39 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $387.00. 2,202,770 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,849,976. The stock has a market cap of $126.01 billion, a PE ratio of 53.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.12. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $358.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $335.42. 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 released 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 company 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%. Palo Alto Networks's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.