Catalyst Financial Partners LLC Raises Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 898 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $307,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PANW. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 17.2% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 5,363 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,524,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 37.8% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,239 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,614,000 after buying an additional 4,458 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 65.6% in the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $437,000 after buying an additional 609 shares in the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 158.9% in the 1st quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 7,707 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,190,000 after acquiring an additional 4,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prosperity Consulting Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth $246,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 315,252 shares of company stock worth $107,138,877. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $334.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Northland Securities lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $378.49.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $360.33 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $233.81 and a 52 week high of $384.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $352.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $328.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.70, a P/E/G ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.