Profund Advisors LLC Acquires 303 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Profund Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 30,213 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the quarter. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $10,243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 91.0% during the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,683 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $478,000 after buying an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $799,792,000 after purchasing an additional 198,078 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% in the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 26,404 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,502,000 after purchasing an additional 8,611 shares in the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,377 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,244,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connectus Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Connectus Wealth LLC now owns 43,813 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,920,000 after buying an additional 8,132 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $340.12 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $110.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.44, a P/E/G ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $336.39 and a 200-day moving average of $313.33. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $224.64 and a one year high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total value of $17,755,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $47,055,533.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total value of $17,755,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the president now directly owns 19,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,452,097.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 464,075 shares of company stock worth $154,029,567. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on PANW. Daiwa Capital Markets assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 target price for the company. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $336.00 to $348.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $366.08.

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.