New Century Financial Group LLC Acquires Shares of 861 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

New Century Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 861 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aveo Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $212,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 545 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $161,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $418,000. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 3,093 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $912,000 after buying an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 4,275 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,261,000 after buying an additional 1,099 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $350.00 to $325.00 in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $369.26.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total transaction of $64,682.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,746.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.44, for a total transaction of $341,440.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 41,517 shares in the company, valued at $14,175,564.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total transaction of $64,682.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,746.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 359,732 shares of company stock worth $118,815,557 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.7 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $329.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $106.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $230.09 and a twelve month high of $380.84. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $337.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $316.24.

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, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.