Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd Boosts Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 320,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 15,000 shares during the quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $65,485,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,016,374 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,100,311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240,830 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,174,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,093,262,000 after purchasing an additional 169,055 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,234,650,000 after buying an additional 2,134,735 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,902,048 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,177,765,000 after buying an additional 950,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $810,047,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.11, for a total transaction of $23,081,119.14. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 177,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,008,788.94. This trade represents a 40.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.97, for a total value of $153,979.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 47,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,449,674.85. The trade was a 1.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 1,215,830 shares of company stock valued at $249,160,428 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.9%

PANW stock opened at $201.00 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.15 and a twelve month high of $223.61. The firm has a market cap of $137.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 125.23, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $209.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $197.42.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $248.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Twenty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.14.

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.