Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 91,336 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Clearbridge Investments LLC decreased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,666,149 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 91,336 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 0.7% of Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned approximately 0.82% of Palo Alto Networks worth $903,851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,129,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,127 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth about $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $150,520,000 after purchasing an additional 444,100 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,099,564,000 after purchasing an additional 255,060 shares during the period. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 63.8% during the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 640,755 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $188,946,000 after purchasing an additional 249,455 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on PANW. BTIG Research lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Northland Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $369.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.77, for a total transaction of $11,439,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,187,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $377,373,165.59. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.77, for a total transaction of $11,439,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,187,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $377,373,165.59. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 359,732 shares of company stock worth $118,815,557 in the last 90 days. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $341.80 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $337.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $315.91. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $230.09 and a twelve month high of $380.84. The company has a market capitalization of $110.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.68, a PEG ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted 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 company 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 firm’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current 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.