Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 258 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,111.1% during the first quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 109 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, 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 transaction of $64,682.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,746.62. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total transaction of $64,682.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,746.62. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total value of $22,865,104.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 639,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,505,142.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 269,866 shares of company stock valued at $88,620,447. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on PANW shares. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, August 19th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Northland Securities boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $372.28.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.3 %

PANW stock traded down $0.96 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $372.24. The company had a trading volume of 567,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,063,493. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $342.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $320.00. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $233.81 and a one year high of $380.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.11, a P/E/G ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast 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.