Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Grows Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 227,676 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,938 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned about 0.08% of Palo Alto Networks worth $45,476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Twin Focus Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $273,000. Trust Investment Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 8,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,750,000 after acquiring an additional 943 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 280,852 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $56,177,000 after acquiring an additional 734 shares during the last quarter. Wills Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Wills Financial Group Inc. now owns 30,653 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,123,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 76.0% during the 1st quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 2,865 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $572,000 after buying an additional 1,237 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PANW. Barclays raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $251.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 21st. 58.com restated a “maintains” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, June 8th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $302.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $264.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 325 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.88, for a total value of $78,936.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,519 shares in the company, valued at $7,655,334.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 325 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.88, for a total value of $78,936.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,519 shares in the company, valued at $7,655,334.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 250 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.10, for a total value of $63,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 28,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,219,840.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 166,090 shares of company stock valued at $39,767,452. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $246.00 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $237.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $215.35. The company has a market capitalization of $75.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 194.80, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.19. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.22 and a fifty-two week high of $258.88.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 51.13% and a net margin of 6.38%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.15 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.5 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.