Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Holdings Lifted by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 197.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 205,358 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 136,330 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.06% of Palo Alto Networks worth $70,191,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% during the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,111.1% in the 1st quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 109 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.9 %

PANW opened at $387.00 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $359.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $336.39. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $234.15 and a 1 year high of $408.53. The stock has a market cap of $126.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.38, a PEG ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’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 value of $11,970,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 value of $30,022,832.14. Following 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 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $384.76.

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.