Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. Makes New $24.41 Million Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 71,429 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,414,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $79,149,000 after purchasing an additional 32,626 shares during the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,377 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,244,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $67,232,000 after acquiring an additional 7,291 shares during the last quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 2,695 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $914,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 38.6% during the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,229 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,043,000 after purchasing an additional 3,965 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.4 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $374.98 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $122.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $353.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $330.94. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $234.15 and a 12-month high of $384.00.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total value of $20,698,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on PANW. BTIG Research increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $378.49.

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.