Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by Counterweight Ventures LLC

Counterweight Ventures LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 7.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 523 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks comprises about 1.9% of Counterweight Ventures LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Counterweight Ventures LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,703,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the third 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 buying an additional 3,249,594 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $177,933,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $174,124,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 444,100 shares during the period. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $94,875,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. 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 research report on Friday, October 18th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 16th. OTR Global restated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $390.39.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total transaction of $22,865,104.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 639,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,505,142.12. This trade represents a 9.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. This represents a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $383.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.36, a P/E/G ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $360.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $337.38. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $249.56 and a 12-month high of $408.53.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research 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.