OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Raises Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 142.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 26,718 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,683 shares during the quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,862,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aprio Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 154.9% during the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $437,000 after buying an additional 1,459 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 96.5% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 3,109 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,527 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 116.6% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 70,302 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,792,000 after acquiring an additional 37,839 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 113.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,631,000 after purchasing an additional 4,763 shares during the period. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 157.1% in the fourth quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 540 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.06.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. The trade was a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of PANW opened at $192.00 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $127.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.17, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $176.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.90. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.01 and a 12 month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current 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.