OneAscent Financial Services LLC Invests $311,000 in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 909 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $150,520,000 after acquiring an additional 444,100 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth about $94,875,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,564,000 after purchasing an additional 255,060 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $388.06 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $249.56 and a fifty-two week high of $408.53. The company has a market cap of $126.35 billion, a PE ratio of 53.53, a P/E/G ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $361.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $338.02.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on PANW. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $391.92.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. This trade represents a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.