Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Position Increased by Quest Partners LLC

Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 1,074.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,607 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 2,385 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $891,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. AMG National Trust Bank increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the third quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 1,220 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Aljian Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 118.1% in the 3rd quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 8,184 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,797,000 after buying an additional 4,431 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $328,470,000 after buying an additional 4,400 shares during the period. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC now owns 2,387 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $816,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 4,913 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,679,000 after buying an additional 909 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on PANW shares. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. OTR Global restated a "negative" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $410.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $391.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company's stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total value of $20,698,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,924.82. The trade was a 27.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $392.89 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.92 billion, a PE ratio of 54.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $258.17 and a 12-month high of $408.53. The business's fifty day moving average price is $362.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $338.41.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 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 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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.