Empirical Finance LLC Has $1.55 Million Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,539 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 439 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,551,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PANW. Nwam LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 1,278 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth $1,965,000. First Foundation Advisors increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 37.8% in the first quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 259 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 265.0% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 4,957 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,408,000 after purchasing an additional 3,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cercano Management LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth about $15,498,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $387.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $126.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.38, a P/E/G ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $359.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $336.07. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. BNP Paribas started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. OTR Global reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. One 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 given 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 $381.56.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. The trade was a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 255,252 shares of company stock worth $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.