Acadian Asset Management LLC Purchases 9,366 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 397.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,722 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 9,366 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,972,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 89.3% in the 1st quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 106 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on PANW. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $376.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Redburn Atlantic cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $350.00 to $325.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $366.08.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $345.16 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $336.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $311.87. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $224.64 and a 12-month high of $380.84. The company has a market cap of $111.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.17, a PEG ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total transaction of $17,755,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total transaction of $500,202.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 19,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,452,097.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 464,075 shares of company stock worth $154,029,567 in the last ninety days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.