Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Sold by FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co

FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co lowered its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 26.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,614 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 573 shares during the quarter. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 114,742 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 73,922 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. BTIG Research raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $381.56.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 41,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,175,564.48. This represents a 2.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $394.39 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $234.15 and a 1-year high of $408.53. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $357.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $335.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $128.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.12.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.