Plato Investment Management Ltd Acquires 4,816 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,629 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,816 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,758,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth $32,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PANW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Bank of America upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.5 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $183.68 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.50 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $186.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.63. The company has a market capitalization of $121.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.