Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Grows Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,285 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 817 shares during the period. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,490,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,118,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,239 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $150,520,000 after buying an additional 444,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,564,000 after buying an additional 255,060 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total value of $64,682.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,014,746.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 351,452 shares of company stock valued at $118,643,279. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $334.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Eleven 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $376.82.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $358.19 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $233.81 and a one year high of $384.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $115.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.43 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $350.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $325.17.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.