Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. Makes New $285,000 Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 835 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $285,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of 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 worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL increased its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 95 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded down $4.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $381.17. The company had a trading volume of 360,874 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,891,509. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $353.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $331.32. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $234.15 and a 12-month high of $386.20. The company has a market capitalization of $124.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.13, a PEG ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued 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 net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group increased 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $378.49.

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.