PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co Boosts Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 200.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,000 shares during the quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,095,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. JDM Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 322 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Adero Partners LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the first quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 1,556 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Snider Financial Group grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the first quarter. Snider Financial Group now owns 17,729 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,025,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Grimes & Company Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.3% in the first quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 1,310 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stephens downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Guggenheim restated a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, May 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $198.11 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.10 billion, a PE ratio of 111.61, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $185.07 and its 200 day moving average is $185.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business’s revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This represents a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528 in the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company 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.