King Luther Capital Management Corp Boosts Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 126.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 39,598 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,088 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $13,424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Aveo Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $212,000. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $336,000. InterOcean Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 1,331 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $392,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Tidemark LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, FineMark National Bank & Trust increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 5,557 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,639,000 after acquiring an additional 476 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $340.12 on Friday. 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 $110.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.44, a PEG ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $336.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $313.18.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The company 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%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Thirteen equities 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $366.08.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total value of $17,755,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,055,533.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total value of $17,755,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $47,055,533.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total transaction of $67,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,443,916. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 464,075 shares of company stock valued at $154,029,567. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

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.