Advisors Asset Management Inc. Sells 5,876 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,435 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 5,876 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $15,530,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1,111.1% in the first quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 109 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Citigroup raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $334.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of 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, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $391.92.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW traded up $4.83 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $392.89. The stock had a trading volume of 5,378,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,843,057. The firm has a market cap of $127.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $361.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $338.02. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $258.17 and a twelve month high of $408.53.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. The company's revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company's stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. The trade was a 24.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.