Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Grows Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,539 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,269 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $13,173,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the 3rd 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 during 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 buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1,111.1% during the first 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. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $350.00 to $325.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, OTR Global reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $378.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were 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 directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 value 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 worth $89,383,077 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $398.02 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $234.15 and a one year high of $400.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.60 billion, a PE ratio of 54.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 1.12. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $356.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $334.54.

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 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 company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.