Founders Financial Alliance LLC Has $603,000 Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Key Points

• Founders Financial Alliance LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 172.9%, acquiring an additional 2,237 shares, bringing their total to 3,531 shares valued at approximately $603,000.
• Wall Street analysts are optimistic about Palo Alto Networks, with an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $209.61, with some firms setting target prices as high as $235.00.
• Recent insider trading showed significant sales by executives, with EVP Nir Zuk selling 100,000 shares for over $17 million and EVP Dipak Golechha selling 5,000 shares for over $1 million.

Founders Financial Alliance LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 172.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,531 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 2,237 shares during the period. Founders Financial Alliance LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $603,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on PANW. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, UBS Group set a $185.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $217.52.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 4.1%

Shares of PANW traded up $6.96 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $175.13. The stock had a trading volume of 6,292,264 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,095,333. The company has a market cap of $116.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 100.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $210.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $193.70 and a 200 day moving average of $186.78.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total value of $17,280,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,143,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $543,199,564.80. The trade was a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.00, for a total transaction of $122,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 41,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,452,332. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 669,248 shares of company stock valued at $126,423,337 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.