Maxi Investments CY Ltd Acquires Shares of 9,797 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Key Points

• Maxi Investments CY Ltd acquired 9,797 shares of Palo Alto Networks, valued at approximately $1.67 million, indicating increasing interest from institutional investors in the company.
• Analysts have mixed views on Palo Alto Networks, with a current consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $209.61.
• Recent insider transactions revealed significant sales, with key executives offloading shares worth nearly $88.4 million over the last three months, reflecting potential concerns about the company's stock performance.

Maxi Investments CY Ltd purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 9,797 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,672,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PANW. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 4,031 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 115.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 43,985 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $8,004,000 after buying an additional 23,586 shares during the last quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,150 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 200 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,121,531 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $204,074,000 after purchasing an additional 544,336 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Northland Securities reduced their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp lowered Palo Alto Networks from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $209.61.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.58, for a total transaction of $20,722,402.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 206,718 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $35,468,674.44. This represents a 36.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total transaction of $1,009,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 101,135 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,414,099.75. This represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 669,248 shares of company stock worth $126,423,337 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock traded up $3.80 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $172.89. 9,837,145 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,189,694. The stock has a market capitalization of $115.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.79, a PEG ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $195.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $187.19. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $210.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. Palo Alto Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal 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.