Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Decreases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC cut its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 42,067 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 943 shares during the quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $14,379,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PANW. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% in the 3rd 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. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% during the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1,111.1% during the first quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 109 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Northland Securities lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued 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, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $384.76.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $387.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $126.01 billion, a PE ratio of 53.38, a P/E/G ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $234.15 and a fifty-two week high of $408.53. The business’s fifty day moving average is $359.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $336.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current 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.