Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Buys 2,426 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 91,765 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,426 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 1.6% of Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $31,109,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 89.3% in the 1st quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 106 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $336.00 to $348.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Thirteen 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $331.63.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW traded down $9.16 during trading on Friday, hitting $334.11. 4,533,366 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,787,649. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $201.17 and a 1 year high of $380.84. The firm has a market cap of $108.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.56, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $326.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $310.65.

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

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was 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 owns 20,501 shares in the company, valued at $6,292,166.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.92, for a total value of $497,517.32. Following the transaction, the president now owns 20,501 shares in the company, valued at $6,292,166.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total transaction of $500,202.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 19,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,452,097.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 367,315 shares of company stock worth $118,696,590. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

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.