Quent Capital LLC Acquires 151 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 39.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 530 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 151 shares during the quarter. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,129,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,127 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 444,100 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 255,060 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in 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 worth $799,792,000 after purchasing an additional 198,078 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $342.36 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.76, a P/E/G ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a fifty day moving average of $337.94 and a 200 day moving average of $317.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $233.81 and a 52 week high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total transaction of $64,682.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,746.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other 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 owns 24,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,014,746.62. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,791,570. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 395,732 shares of company stock worth $130,785,557. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $334.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Northland Securities upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Eleven equities research 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 MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $369.26.

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.