Liberty Capital Management Inc. Has $2.42 Million Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Liberty Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,081 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the quarter. Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,420,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in 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 valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1,111.1% during the 1st quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 109 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 833.3% during the 1st quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 112 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First PREMIER Bank lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 95 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $376.10 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $233.81 and a 12-month high of $384.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.88, a P/E/G ratio of 5.43 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $350.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $324.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on PANW. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $376.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business’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 transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total transaction of $64,682.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,746.62. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction 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 approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 351,452 shares of company stock valued at $118,643,279 in the last three months. 3.30% of the stock is currently 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.