QRG Capital Management Inc. Acquires 1,599 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 7.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,846 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,599 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $7,809,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Norden Group LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 65.6% in the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $437,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 5.2% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 5,519 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,568,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. RiverPark Advisors LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth approximately $40,000. Commerce Bank grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 5.9% in the first quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 25,168 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the first quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 175,109 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $49,754,000 after purchasing an additional 923 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $361.12 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $117.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.81, a PEG ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $233.81 and a one year high of $384.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $352.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $330.32.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.44, for a total transaction of $341,440.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 41,517 shares in the company, valued at $14,175,564.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on PANW. Northland Securities increased 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $378.49.

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.