AMG National Trust Bank Has $417,000 Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

AMG National Trust Bank grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,220 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $417,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the third 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 purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 255,060 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during 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 buying an additional 114,742 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 valued at $339,183,000 after buying an additional 73,922 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $328,470,000 after acquiring an additional 4,400 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PANW. OTR Global reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $391.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value 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 approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 in the company, valued at $370,926,027.50. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.3 %

PANW opened at $388.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $126.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.53, a P/E/G ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $249.56 and a 12 month high of $408.53. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $361.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $338.02.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 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.