Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Boosts Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,268 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 520 shares during the quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,117,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $79,149,000 after purchasing an additional 32,626 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $799,792,000 after purchasing an additional 198,078 shares in the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,377 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,244,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $67,232,000 after purchasing an additional 7,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 2,695 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $914,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total transaction of $17,755,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 sold 351,452 shares of company stock worth $118,643,279 in the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $376.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $366.44 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $351.26 and its 200-day moving average is $325.45. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $233.81 and a one year high of $384.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.45 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal 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.