Greater Midwest Financial Group LLC Boosts Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Greater Midwest Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,578 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 517 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up about 1.0% of Greater Midwest Financial Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Greater Midwest Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% during the fourth 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 purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $150,520,000 after purchasing an additional 444,100 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted 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 buying an additional 255,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $799,792,000 after buying an additional 198,078 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BTIG Research increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Twelve 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,187,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $377,373,165.59. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were 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 directly owns 1,187,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $377,373,165.59. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 359,732 shares of company stock valued at $118,815,557 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $332.13 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $230.09 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $337.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $316.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $108.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.87 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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The business 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.