BluePointe Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

BluePointe Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. BluePointe Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,192,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the second quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $312,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% during the third quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $357,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Geneva Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,741,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $381.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 31,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. The trade was a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total value of $22,865,104.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 639,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,505,142.12. This trade represents a 9.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $394.39 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $234.15 and a 12 month high of $408.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.41 billion, a PE ratio of 54.40, a P/E/G ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.12. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $357.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $335.01.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced 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 net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

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.