Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Boosts Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 110.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,097 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $711,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $1,563,020,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,129,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,127 shares during the last quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 359.3% during the 4th quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 957,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $282,406,000 after buying an additional 749,199 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth approximately $177,933,000. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 63.8% in the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 640,755 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $188,946,000 after purchasing an additional 249,455 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total value of $500,202.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 19,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,452,097.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total value of $500,202.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 19,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,452,097.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 376,372 shares of company stock valued at $121,925,593 over the last ninety days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on PANW shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $363.49.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.3 %

Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $4.51 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $362.72. The stock had a trading volume of 2,986,974 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,373,807. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $224.64 and a 52-week high of $380.84. The company has a market capitalization of $117.45 billion, a PE ratio of 52.72, a P/E/G ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $332.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $311.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 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.