Meridiem Investment Management Ltd. Takes Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Meridiem Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 650 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,806 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $533,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $60,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 403.5% in the first quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 720 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.7% in the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,043 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $849,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marcum Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 10.8% during the first quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 947 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $269,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Northland Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price 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. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.79.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.77, for a total value of $11,439,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,187,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $377,373,165.59. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.77, for a total value of $11,439,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,187,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $377,373,165.59. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 351,452 shares of company stock valued at $118,643,279 over the last three months. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded down $1.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $374.83. 1,449,963 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,382,185. The company has a market cap of $122.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.70, a P/E/G ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $348.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $322.67. 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 results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS 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.