Rathbones Group PLC Raises Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Rathbones Group PLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 436,170 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,028 shares during the quarter. Rathbones Group PLC owned approximately 0.13% of Palo Alto Networks worth $147,866,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in 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 valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 89.3% in the 1st quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 106 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on PANW. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $350.00 to $325.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Daiwa America raised Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $366.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total transaction of $67,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,443,916. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total value of $17,755,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total transaction of $67,600.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,443,916. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 464,075 shares of company stock valued at $154,029,567. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $346.90 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $224.64 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84. The company has a market cap of $112.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $336.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $312.16.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.