Goelzer Investment Management Inc. Purchases 179 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Goelzer Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 0.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,923 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 179 shares during the period. Goelzer Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $8,177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 91.0% during the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,683 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $478,000 after buying an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $799,792,000 after acquiring an additional 198,078 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 26,404 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,502,000 after purchasing an additional 8,611 shares in the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,377 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,244,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connectus Wealth LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Connectus Wealth LLC now owns 43,813 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,920,000 after purchasing an additional 8,132 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, BTIG Research raised their price objective 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $369.26.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ PANW traded up $6.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $342.36. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,037,059 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,121,362. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.76, a PEG ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $337.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $316.89. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $233.81 and a twelve month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total value of $64,682.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,746.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 395,732 shares of company stock worth $130,785,557 in the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.