ASB Consultores LLC Takes $369,000 Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

ASB Consultores LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,088 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% during the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 89.3% during the first quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 106 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.54, for a total transaction of $22,436,448.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 694,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $233,635,491.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total value of $20,698,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,854,924.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 464,075 shares of company stock worth $154,029,567 in the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Barclays raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Daiwa Capital Markets initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $366.08.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $333.60 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $224.64 and a 1-year high of $380.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $336.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $312.89.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

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.