BOCHK Asset Management Ltd Takes Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

by · The Markets Daily

BOCHK Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW – Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 10,400 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,555,000. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 1.1% of BOCHK Asset Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1,111.1% during the first quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 109 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 833.3% during the first quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 112 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First PREMIER Bank raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% in the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 95 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on PANW. BTIG Research increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $376.82.

Read Our Latest Research Report on PANW

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded up $5.30 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $363.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 691,064 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,992,550. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $233.81 and a fifty-two week high of $384.00. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $350.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $325.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $117.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.88, a PEG ratio of 5.43 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business 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 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total value of $64,682.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,014,746.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 351,452 shares of company stock valued at $118,643,279. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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