Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd Invests $2.73 Million in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 7,973 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,725,000. Palo Alto Networks comprises about 2.7% of Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $312,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% in the third quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,379,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Geneva Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,741,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.9 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $387.00 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $234.15 and a 52-week high of $408.53. The company has a market cap of $126.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.38, a PEG ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.12. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $359.86 and its 200 day moving average is $336.07.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PANW. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $381.56.

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.