Caxton Associates LLP Buys Shares of 5,613 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 5,613 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,149,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth about $261,000. Strive Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% during the first quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% during the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $457,279,000 after purchasing an additional 163,718 shares during the last quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% in the second quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4,524.0% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 547,944 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $112,131,000 after purchasing an additional 536,094 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $185.88 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $129.56 billion, a PE ratio of 117.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $204.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $197.58. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total value of $26,321,485.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 356,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,675,777.46. The trade was a 25.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.39, for a total transaction of $132,573.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 46,805 shares in the company, valued at $8,864,398.95. This represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,228,330 shares of company stock worth $251,702,305. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Thirty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.09.

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.