ProShare Advisors LLC Has $115.27 Million Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

ProShare Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 340,018 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 36,125 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC owned 0.11% of Palo Alto Networks worth $115,270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PANW. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 91.0% in the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,683 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings 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. Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% during the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 26,404 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,502,000 after buying an additional 8,611 shares during the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the first quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,377 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,244,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connectus Wealth LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Connectus Wealth LLC now owns 43,813 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,920,000 after acquiring an additional 8,132 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $340.12 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $224.64 and a one year high of $380.84. The company has a market cap of $110.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.44, a PEG ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $336.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $313.33.

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 company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last 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. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the president now owns 19,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,452,097.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the company’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 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total value of $500,202.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 19,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,452,097.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 464,075 shares of company stock worth $154,029,567. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. BTIG Research lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $366.08.

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.