Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Makes New $1.21 Million Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

by · The Markets Daily

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW – Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,533 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,208,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,118,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,239 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth approximately $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $150,520,000 after buying an additional 444,100 shares during the period. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth $94,875,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was 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 approximately $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077 over the last 90 days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $391.40 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $127.44 billion, a PE ratio of 53.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $234.15 and a fifty-two week high of $393.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $355.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $332.74.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, OTR Global reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $378.49.

Check Out Our Latest Report on Palo Alto Networks

About Palo Alto Networks

(Free Report)

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.

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