Brown Financial Advisors Makes New $1.83 Million Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Brown Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 5,392 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,828,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,129,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,127 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth about $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $150,520,000 after acquiring an additional 444,100 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,099,564,000 after acquiring an additional 255,060 shares during the period. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 63.8% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 640,755 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $188,946,000 after acquiring an additional 249,455 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $329.29 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $230.09 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $337.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $316.24. The stock has a market cap of $106.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.86, a P/E/G ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total transaction of $64,682.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,746.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total value of $64,682.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,746.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total transaction of $42,165,110.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at $55,791,570. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 359,732 shares of company stock worth $118,815,557 over the last ninety days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PANW. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $376.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, BTIG Research raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $369.26.

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.