Van ECK Associates Corp Grows Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 5.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 90,511 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 4,857 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $32,420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $79,149,000 after purchasing an additional 32,626 shares during the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the first quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,377 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,244,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $67,232,000 after acquiring an additional 7,291 shares during the period. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% in the second quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 2,695 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $914,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 38.6% during the first quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,229 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,043,000 after acquiring an additional 3,965 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on PANW. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $378.49.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $361.12 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $352.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $330.32. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $233.81 and a 52 week high of $384.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.58 billion, a PE ratio of 49.81, a PEG ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 1.12.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 41,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,175,564.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other 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 transaction of $341,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 41,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,175,564.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the business’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 value of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

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.