Calton & Associates Inc. Buys 407 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Calton & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 59.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,094 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 407 shares during the quarter. Calton & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $374,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $8,118,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,239 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $150,520,000 after purchasing an additional 444,100 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 255,060 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $799,792,000 after purchasing an additional 198,078 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. BNP Paribas started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 target price for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $376.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $376.10 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $233.81 and a 52-week high of $384.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.46 billion, a PE ratio of 51.88, a PEG ratio of 5.43 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $350.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $324.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm’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 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,187,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $377,373,165.59. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm’s 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 approximately $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 have sold 351,452 shares of company stock worth $118,643,279 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

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.