Plato Investment Management Ltd Buys 65 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,813 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,643,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,156,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $79,149,000 after buying an additional 32,626 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $67,232,000 after buying an additional 7,291 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth $24,414,000. Finally, Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 2,695 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $914,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $394.39 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $234.15 and a 52-week high of $408.53. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $357.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $335.01. The firm has a market cap of $128.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.40, a PEG ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results 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 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 analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $380.28.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total value of $20,698,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,854,924.82. The trade was a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.