Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Sold by Semus Wealth Partners LLC

Semus Wealth Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 6.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 140 shares during the period. Semus Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $684,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 265.0% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 4,957 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,408,000 after purchasing an additional 3,599 shares during the period. Cynosure Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $319,000. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 51.5% in the 1st quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 4,825 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,640 shares during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 12,830 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,645,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 25,490 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,243,000 after purchasing an additional 2,748 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $389.75 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $359.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $336.73. The company has a market capitalization of $126.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.38, a PEG ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $249.56 and a 1-year high of $408.53.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total value of $22,865,104.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 639,994 shares in the company, valued at $219,505,142.12. This represents a 9.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Northland Securities raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $384.76.

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.