West Family Investments Inc. Acquires 250 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

West Family Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 35.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 948 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $324,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth approximately $177,933,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $174,124,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $150,520,000 after purchasing an additional 444,100 shares during the period. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $94,875,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $391.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. This represents a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $388.06 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $249.56 and a 1-year high of $408.53. The company has a 50-day moving average of $361.53 and a 200 day moving average of $338.02. The firm has a market cap of $126.35 billion, a PE ratio of 53.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12.

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