Strategic Blueprint LLC Purchases 718 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Strategic Blueprint LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 19,229 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 718 shares during the quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,118,190,000 after buying an additional 1,002,239 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased 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 acquiring an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised 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 purchasing an additional 255,060 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $799,792,000 after purchasing an additional 198,078 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $757,321,000 after purchasing an additional 114,742 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:PANW traded up $0.51 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $362.86. The company had a trading volume of 223,713 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,954,036. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $352.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $327.33. The firm has a market cap of $118.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.53, a PEG ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $233.81 and a 52 week high of $384.00.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same period 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, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total transaction of $17,755,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $47,055,533.37. This trade 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 at the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’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 transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total value of $17,755,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $47,055,533.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 351,452 shares of company stock worth $118,643,279. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $376.82.

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.