Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,870 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,363,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,129,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,127 shares during the last quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 359.3% in the fourth quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 957,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $282,406,000 after purchasing an additional 749,199 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $177,933,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 63.8% in the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 640,755 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $188,946,000 after buying an additional 249,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $799,792,000 after buying an additional 198,078 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $340.12 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $336.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $313.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.44, a PEG ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $224.64 and a one year high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $376.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Thirteen investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $366.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total value of $67,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,443,916. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total value of $67,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,443,916. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total transaction of $17,755,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 464,075 shares of company stock valued at $154,029,567. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

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.