Sycomore Asset Management Sells 8,223 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Sycomore Asset Management decreased its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 53.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,277 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 8,223 shares during the period. Sycomore Asset Management's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,465,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,111.1% in the 1st quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 109 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PANW. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Northland Securities lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $380.28.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $7.97 during trading on Thursday, reaching $394.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,428,597 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,857,424. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $357.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $335.01. The company has a market capitalization of $128.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $234.15 and a 12-month high of $408.53.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.