Nixon Peabody Trust Co. Sells 270 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Nixon Peabody Trust Co. decreased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 0.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 58,382 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 270 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for 1.7% of Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $19,955,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth $1,156,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% during the third quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $79,149,000 after purchasing an additional 32,626 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $67,232,000 after purchasing an additional 7,291 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth about $24,414,000. Finally, Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 2,695 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $914,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Scotiabank increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company 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 assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $384.76.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded up $2.48 during trading on Monday, reaching $389.48. 263,873 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,833,038. The stock has a market cap of $126.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.38, a PEG ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $249.56 and a 12-month high of $408.53. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $359.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $336.73.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 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 quarter last year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.