Dillon & Associates Inc. Acquires 2,167 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Dillon & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 4.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 50,650 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,167 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 2.4% of Dillon & Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Dillon & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $17,322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,118,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,239 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth approximately $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% in the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $150,520,000 after acquiring an additional 444,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth $94,875,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.44, for a total transaction of $341,440.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 41,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,175,564.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 41,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,175,564.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $398.02 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $234.15 and a 52-week high of $400.69. The firm has a market cap of $129.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.90, a PEG ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s fifty day moving average is $355.84 and its 200-day moving average is $333.78.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, November 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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 stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $378.87.

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.