Empirical Finance LLC Acquires 485 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 12.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,459 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,129,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,127 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $1,563,020,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,136,547 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $924,905,000 after buying an additional 30,013 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $799,792,000 after buying an additional 198,078 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29,086.9% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,057,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $606,854,000 after buying an additional 2,050,917 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total transaction of $42,165,110.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at $55,791,570. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total value of $42,165,110.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,791,570. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.92, for a total transaction of $497,517.32. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 20,501 shares in the company, valued at $6,292,166.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 428,391 shares of company stock worth $136,147,317. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of several research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $364.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Macquarie boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $355.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $326.29.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW traded up $5.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $336.36. 1,777,377 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,659,958. The company has a market capitalization of $108.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.81, a P/E/G ratio of 5.16 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $201.17 and a 1 year high of $380.84. The business’s 50 day moving average is $315.69 and its 200-day moving average is $309.27.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company’s revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.