Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC Acquires 150 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 6.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,387 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 0.7% of Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $816,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. M&G Plc bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at about $1,965,000. First Foundation Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.8% in the 1st quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 259 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 265.0% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 4,957 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,408,000 after purchasing an additional 3,599 shares during the last quarter. Cynosure Group LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth $319,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 23.2% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 881 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $384.76.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $387.00 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $234.15 and a 52 week high of $408.53. The company has a market capitalization of $126.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.38, a PEG ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $359.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $336.39.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during 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 business’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. This trade represents a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.