Fairscale Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 914 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,118,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,239 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $799,792,000 after purchasing an additional 198,078 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $757,321,000 after purchasing an additional 114,742 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.0% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,000,511 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $339,183,000 after purchasing an additional 73,922 shares during the period. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 359.3% in the fourth quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 957,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $282,406,000 after purchasing an additional 749,199 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Northland Securities boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $366.08.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $340.12 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $110.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.44, a PEG ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $224.64 and a 1 year high of $380.84. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $336.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $313.33.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 639,994 shares in the company, valued at $219,505,142.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total transaction of $67,600.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,443,916. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 639,994 shares in the company, valued at $219,505,142.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 464,075 shares of company stock valued at $154,029,567. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.