Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Purchases 54 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,086 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in 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 buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position 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. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth about $94,875,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,099,564,000 after acquiring an additional 255,060 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $390.16 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $249.56 and a 52-week high of $408.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.38, a P/E/G ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $359.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $336.73.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. The company’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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 price objective on the stock. OTR Global reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $384.76.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $370,926,027.50. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. This trade represents a 24.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637 in the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by 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.