Renaissance Technologies LLC Purchases 11,000 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 25.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,600 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 11,000 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $18,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.0 %

PANW stock opened at $340.12 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.44, a P/E/G ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $224.64 and a 52 week high of $380.84. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $336.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $313.18.

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

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 639,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,505,142.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total value of $22,865,104.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 639,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,505,142.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total value of $500,202.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 19,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,452,097.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 464,075 shares of company stock valued at $154,029,567 over the last 90 days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $366.08.

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.