QRG Capital Management Inc. Grows Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 114.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,068 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 26,222 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $8,928,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 1,320 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 101.5% during the fourth quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,562 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $284,000 after buying an additional 787 shares in the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 416 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 57,366.0% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 439,615 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $79,992,000 after buying an additional 438,850 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 120.9% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 123,144 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $22,407,000 after buying an additional 67,394 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on PANW. StockNews.com cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. HSBC downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $217.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $187.50 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $132.50 and a one year high of $208.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $186.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.14. The firm has a market cap of $124.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.63, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks 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.