Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Purchases 118 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 26,084 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for 1.2% of Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $8,916,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,118,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,239 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,249,594 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,099,564,000 after acquiring an additional 255,060 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $757,321,000 after acquiring an additional 114,742 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,000,511 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $339,183,000 after acquiring an additional 73,922 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of PANW traded down $5.79 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $379.39. 156,656 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,890,563. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $353.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $331.32. The company has a market cap of $123.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $234.15 and a 1 year high of $386.20.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.44, for a total transaction of $341,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 41,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,175,564.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on PANW. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $378.49.

Palo Alto Networks 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.