Voya Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Voya Investment Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,572,908 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 40,556 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $320,276,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.9% in the third quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,989 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,952,000 after purchasing an additional 1,919 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.9% during the third quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 34,350 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,994,000 after buying an additional 1,274 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,742 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $558,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. National Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth about $291,000. Finally, Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 19,668 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,005,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.39, for a total value of $132,573.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,864,398.95. This trade represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 1,228,330 shares of company stock worth $251,702,305 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on PANW. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Northland Securities increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Mizuho set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JMP Securities increased their target price 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-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.20.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $185.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $129.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 117.65, a P/E/G ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $202.39 and its 200 day moving average is $197.37. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $223.61.

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

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.