Veracity Capital LLC Increases Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Veracity Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 15.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,101 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 150 shares during the quarter. Veracity Capital LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth about $3,394,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 203.7% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 59,363 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,917,000 after purchasing an additional 39,817 shares in the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 22.8% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 5,338 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after purchasing an additional 991 shares in the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 40.1% during the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,787 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,655 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingdon Capital Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 216.7% during the third quarter. Kingdon Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 38,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,909,000 after purchasing an additional 26,000 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $364.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, June 21st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total transaction of $10,376,640.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $373,434,232.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total value of $10,376,640.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $373,434,232.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total transaction of $500,202.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 19,026 shares in the company, valued at $6,452,097.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 302,525 shares of company stock valued at $93,982,207 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.2 %

PANW opened at $341.20 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.48 billion, a PE ratio of 49.59, a PEG ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $201.17 and a twelve month high of $380.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $311.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $308.09.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.07. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.