Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd Buys New Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 7,973 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,725,000. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 2.7% of Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. FLC Capital Advisors grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,741,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $387.00 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $359.86 and its 200 day moving average is $336.07. The company has a market cap of $126.01 billion, a PE ratio of 53.38, a P/E/G ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $234.15 and a 1 year high of $408.53.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total transaction of $22,865,104.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 639,994 shares in the company, valued at $219,505,142.12. The trade was a 9.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $381.56.

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.