Legal & General Group Plc Raises Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 8.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 255,060 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 1.00% of Palo Alto Networks worth $1,099,564,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 89.3% during the first quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 106 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Thirteen investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $366.08.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of PANW opened at $338.73 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $336.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $314.61. The firm has a market cap of $109.68 billion, a PE ratio of 49.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.99 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $228.32 and a 12-month high of $380.84.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total value of $42,165,110.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,791,570. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total value of $500,202.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 19,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,452,097.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total value of $42,165,110.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,791,570. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 464,075 shares of company stock valued at $154,029,567. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.