Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Trims Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 45.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 162,104 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 135,410 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $54,955,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 31.4% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 112,040 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $33,038,000 after purchasing an additional 26,767 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 24,726 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,291,000 after buying an additional 2,225 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 91.0% during the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,683 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $478,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 67.4% in the 4th quarter. American National Bank now owns 231 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 2,762 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $814,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 31,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director John P. Key sold 2,163 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.41, for a total transaction of $660,601.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,860,076.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 466,238 shares of company stock valued at $154,690,169. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PANW. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $376.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $366.08.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW traded down $7.92 during trading on Friday, hitting $335.82. The company had a trading volume of 2,367,589 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,328,734. The business has a 50-day moving average of $335.82 and a 200-day moving average of $310.48. The company has a market cap of $108.74 billion, a PE ratio of 48.81, a P/E/G ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $224.64 and a 1-year high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

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.