Quent Capital LLC Increases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 51.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 379 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $1,563,020,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.1% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,616,803 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $771,643,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187,915 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,129,800,000 after buying an additional 1,058,127 shares during the last quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 359.3% in the 4th quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 957,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $282,406,000 after acquiring an additional 749,199 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth $177,933,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.6 %

PANW stock traded up $7.75 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $301.93. The company had a trading volume of 3,216,819 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,434,475. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.89, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50 day moving average of $321.19 and a 200 day moving average of $311.66. 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 quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.07. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 the SEC website. In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,223,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $414,984,983.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total value of $64,682.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,746.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 307,315 shares of company stock valued at $100,940,790 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on PANW shares. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $360.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $384.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Thirteen 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $325.59.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.