KCM Investment Advisors LLC Buys 385 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

KCM Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 65.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 975 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. raised its stake in 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 valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was 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 owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $384.76.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.9 %

PANW stock opened at $387.00 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $359.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $336.39. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $234.15 and a 52 week high of $408.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12.

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