Raymond James & Associates Sells 8,724 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Raymond James & Associates lowered its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 628,040 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 8,724 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned 0.19% of Palo Alto Networks worth $214,664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,118,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,239 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,564,000 after acquiring an additional 255,060 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $799,792,000 after acquiring an additional 198,078 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $757,321,000 after acquiring an additional 114,742 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 8.0% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,000,511 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $339,183,000 after buying an additional 73,922 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $374.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $121.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $233.81 and a 52 week high of $380.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $348.67 and a 200 day moving average of $323.01.

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 business 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,014,746.62. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total value of $64,682.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,014,746.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 351,452 shares of company stock valued at $118,643,279 over the last ninety days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. 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. Citigroup boosted 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. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.79.

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.