Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC cut its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 5.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,337 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 711 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,559,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,118,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,239 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its position 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $94,875,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $399.00 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.91, a PEG ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $234.15 and a 1 year high of $400.69. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $355.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $333.78.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. Analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Northland Securities upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $378.87.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total value of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077. 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.