Zions Bancorporation N.A. Grows Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 9.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,316 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,387 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Huntington National Bank grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 12.4% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 223,310 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $76,327,000 after acquiring an additional 24,559 shares in the last quarter. ROI Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% in the third quarter. ROI Financial Advisors LLC now owns 13,597 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,647,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the third quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,813 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,643,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 12.1% in the third quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,798 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,640,000 after acquiring an additional 516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 18.8% in the third quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 4,227 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,445,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PANW. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Northland Securities upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $378.87.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were 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 owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at $370,926,027.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at $370,926,027.50. 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 the SEC website. 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 transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $402.36 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $357.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $335.01. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $234.15 and a 52 week high of $408.53. The stock has a market cap of $131.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.50, a PEG ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 1.12.

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, 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 prior year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.