E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Has $2.21 Million Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 22.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,515 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,214 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,209,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% in the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 89.3% in the first quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 106 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PANW. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $334.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. 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. Finally, Argus raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $336.00 to $348.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $366.08.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $337.93 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $224.64 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.03 billion, a PE ratio of 49.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $336.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $312.63.

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 return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total transaction of $500,202.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 19,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,452,097.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total value of $67,600.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,443,916. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total value of $500,202.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 19,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,452,097.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 464,075 shares of company stock worth $154,029,567 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

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.