Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC Has $816,000 Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,387 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks comprises 0.7% of Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $816,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 lifted its stake 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 valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% during the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 95 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, November 4th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $384.76.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at $370,926,027.50. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. The trade was a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $387.00 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $359.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $336.39. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $234.15 and a 1-year high of $408.53. The firm has a market cap of $126.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 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 firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current 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.