Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,893 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 651 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $11,585,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. First PREMIER Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% during the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 95 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 89.3% during the 1st quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 106 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total transaction of $64,682.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,014,746.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total transaction of $64,682.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,014,746.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, 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 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 351,452 shares of company stock valued at $118,643,279. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.4 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $374.83 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $348.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $322.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.70, a PEG ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $233.81 and a 52-week high of $380.84.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on PANW. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $375.79.

Palo Alto Networks 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.