Walter Public Investments Inc. Buys 4,630 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Walter Public Investments Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 30.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,730 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,630 shares during the quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,744,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Kowal Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth about $210,000. FLC Capital Advisors grew its position in shares of 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. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,023 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $350,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Bfsg LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 18,320 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $6,262,000 after buying an additional 2,746 shares during the period. Finally, AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC now owns 4,352 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,488,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW traded up $2.92 on Thursday, reaching $376.15. The stock had a trading volume of 1,545,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,049,036. The company has a market cap of $121.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $233.81 and a 1-year high of $380.84. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $346.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $321.63.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. Research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Westpark Capital reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $373.28.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total value of $64,682.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,782 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,014,746.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 351,452 shares of company stock valued at $118,643,279. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.