Forge First Asset Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Forge First Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,200 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the quarter. Forge First Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,292,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. St. Clair Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the second quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,233,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% during the second quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,467 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. TFG Advisers LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 4,668 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $955,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSG Advisors LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,450 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,154,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of several recent research reports. Tigress Financial began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, September 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $245.00 target price for the company. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, October 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Twenty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.14.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.9%

PANW stock opened at $201.00 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $223.61. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $209.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $197.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 125.23, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 0.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total value of $1,020,950.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,629,805.65. This trade represents a 4.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.97, for a total transaction of $153,979.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,449,674.85. This trade represents a 1.45% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,215,830 shares of company stock worth $249,160,428. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.