Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Acquires Shares of 637 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 637 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,111.1% during the 1st quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 109 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of several recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 16th. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $378.49.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $361.12 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $233.81 and a fifty-two week high of $384.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.81, a PEG ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $352.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $330.32.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted 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 company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.44, for a total value of $341,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 41,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,175,564.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 41,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,175,564.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077 over the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.