Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Makes New $35.56 Million Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 194,742 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,556,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Dallas Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 2,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $728,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. RB Capital Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the third quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 2,492 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $852,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,977 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $676,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Zega Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Zega Financial LLC now owns 5,997 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,050,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey Wright & Associates lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 9,853 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,368,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of several recent research reports. Guggenheim lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 target price (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.27.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 7.0 %

PANW stock opened at $153.57 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $132.63 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The company has a market cap of $101.68 billion, a PE ratio of 86.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $185.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.10.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total transaction of $31,730,609.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $195,596,176.16. This trade represents a 13.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,114,786 shares of company stock worth $200,426,637. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.