King Luther Capital Management Corp Purchases 22,088 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 126.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,598 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,088 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $13,424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aveo Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $336,000. InterOcean Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 1,331 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Tidemark LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, FineMark National Bank & Trust raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 5,557 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,639,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Daiwa Capital Markets assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 price target on the stock. Argus upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $336.00 to $348.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Daiwa America raised shares of Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Thirteen 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $366.08.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $340.12 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $224.64 and a 52 week high of $380.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $336.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $313.18. The firm has a market cap of $110.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

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 dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,443,916. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total transaction of $67,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total value of $42,165,110.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,791,570. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 464,075 shares of company stock valued at $154,029,567. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.