Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Sells 214 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 23.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 704 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 214 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $239,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% during the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 89.3% during the first quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 106 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $366.08.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.4 %

PANW stock opened at $337.93 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.03 billion, a PE ratio of 49.12, a PEG ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $224.64 and a 1-year high of $380.84. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $336.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $312.63.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total value of $500,202.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 19,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,452,097.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total transaction of $500,202.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 19,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,452,097.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.54, for a total value of $22,436,448.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 694,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $233,635,491.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 464,075 shares of company stock worth $154,029,567 in the last ninety days. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company 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.