Prudent Investors Network Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,800 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Prudent Investors Network Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 1,800 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $511,000. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 0.2% of Prudent Investors Network Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% in the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 89.3% during the first quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 106 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.16, for a total transaction of $12,209,760.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,223,567 shares in the company, valued at $414,984,983.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $339.16, for a total value of $12,209,760.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,223,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $414,984,983.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total transaction of $42,165,110.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,791,570. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 428,391 shares of company stock valued at $136,147,317 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.4 %

Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $4.55 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $317.51. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,703,781 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,472,761. The company has a market cap of $102.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.15, a P/E/G ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $321.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $312.25. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $201.17 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on PANW. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $384.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Citigroup lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Thirteen investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $325.59.

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.