Gouws Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Gouws Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,970 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,015,000. Palo Alto Networks comprises 0.7% of Gouws Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the second 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 last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% during the third quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Partners LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,741,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.9 %

PANW traded down $7.39 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $387.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 513,937 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,841,996. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $234.15 and a twelve month high of $408.53. The stock has a market cap of $126.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.77, a PEG ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $358.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $335.42.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Northland Securities increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $381.56.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.44, for a total value of $341,440.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 41,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,175,564.48. The trade was a 2.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.