Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Purchased by Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 29.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,613 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,278 shares during the period. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $751,276,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $204,728,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 80.0% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,559,318 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $357,144,000 after acquiring an additional 1,137,163 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $148,226,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,001,149 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $399,710,000 after acquiring an additional 652,439 shares during the last quarter. 85.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of PANW stock traded down $3.49 on Tuesday, reaching $236.40. 1,058,645 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,845,987. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $132.22 and a twelve month high of $258.88. The company has a market capitalization of $72.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 190.39, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $236.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $217.65.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.15. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 51.13% and a net margin of 6.38%. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.15 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on PANW. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $302.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 21st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 21st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $254.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $266.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.75, for a total transaction of $170,696.75. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,017. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.17, for a total value of $9,682,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 177,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,130,921.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.75, for a total value of $170,696.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $768,017. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 168,140 shares of company stock worth $40,276,328 in the last ninety days. 3.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.