Hartford Financial Management Inc. Sells 330 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Hartford Financial Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 59.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 229 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 330 shares during the period. Hartford Financial Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $78,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $8,118,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,239 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during the second 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 period. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at approximately $94,875,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $378.49.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total transaction of $17,755,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $47,055,533.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 315,252 shares of company stock worth $107,138,877. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $360.33 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $233.81 and a 1-year high of $384.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $352.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $328.38. The company has a market capitalization of $117.32 billion, a PE ratio of 49.70, a PEG ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.