Ceeto Capital Group LLC Takes Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Ceeto Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 2,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $568,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,118,190,000 after buying an additional 1,002,239 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,563,020,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,136,547 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $924,905,000 after buying an additional 30,013 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $799,792,000 after buying an additional 198,078 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 29,086.9% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,057,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $606,854,000 after buying an additional 2,050,917 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.92, for a total value of $497,517.32. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 20,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,292,166.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total transaction of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $373,434,232.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.92, for a total transaction of $497,517.32. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 20,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,292,166.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 428,391 shares of company stock worth $136,147,317 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $360.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, June 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $380.00 price target for the company. Macquarie upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $325.59.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW traded up $6.68 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $326.81. The stock had a trading volume of 1,709,425 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,294,796. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $201.17 and a 1-year high of $380.84. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $321.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $312.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.50, a PEG ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.