Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Increases Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 11.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,067 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,088 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $13,353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 777,521 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $220,917,000 after purchasing an additional 22,154 shares during the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth approximately $2,226,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.9% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 34,210 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $9,720,000 after purchasing an additional 645 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,064.8% in the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 20,111 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $5,714,000 after purchasing an additional 19,182 shares during the period. Finally, Kovack Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 26.3% during the 1st quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 37,662 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $10,701,000 after purchasing an additional 7,832 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company's stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares of the company's stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 351,452 shares of company stock valued at $118,643,279. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, August 19th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $376.82.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded down $1.14 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $364.25. The company had a trading volume of 369,947 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,946,287. The stock has a market cap of $118.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.46, a P/E/G ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $233.81 and a 1 year high of $384.00. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $352.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $327.94.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

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