Empower Advisory Group LLC Buys 890 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 70.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,162 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 890 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $739,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 2,143 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $609,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 16.8% in the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 1,278 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $390,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth approximately $1,635,000. Forge First Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth approximately $540,000. Finally, M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $1,965,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 2.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077 in the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $394.39 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $128.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.40, a PEG ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $357.82 and a 200 day moving average of $335.01. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $234.15 and a one year high of $408.53.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.80 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on PANW. OTR Global reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, KeyCorp increased 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. One 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $380.28.

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.