Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Purchases 28,524 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 468.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 34,618 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 28,524 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $11,832,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kathmere Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 worth $312,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the second quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,110 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Herbst Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the third quarter. Herbst Group LLC now owns 9,692 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,313,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% in the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 95 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sheets Smith Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the first quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management now owns 1,479 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $420,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Northland Securities increased their price target on 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. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $372.28.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of PANW traded up $3.80 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $373.20. 2,298,019 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,081,229. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $233.81 and a 12-month high of $380.84. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $342.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $319.50. The company has a market cap of $120.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.24, a P/E/G ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.77, for a total value of $11,439,720.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,187,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at $377,373,165.59. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total transaction of $17,755,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.77, for a total value of $11,439,720.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,187,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $377,373,165.59. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 269,866 shares of company stock valued at $88,620,447 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company's stock.

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.