Flow Traders U.S. LLC Makes New $1.28 Million Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Flow Traders U.S. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 6,271 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,283,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PANW. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at about $261,000. Strive Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $457,279,000 after acquiring an additional 163,718 shares during the last quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% during the 2nd quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $672,000 after acquiring an additional 1,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4,524.0% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 547,944 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $112,131,000 after acquiring an additional 536,094 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total value of $1,020,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares in the company, valued at $19,629,805.65. This represents a 4.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total transaction of $23,177,738.34. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 327,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,878,351.95. The trade was a 26.93% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,215,830 shares of company stock worth $249,260,680. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on PANW. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $220.00 target price (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Thirty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.09.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $195.35 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $223.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 123.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $205.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $197.43.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.