WINTON GROUP Ltd Takes Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 90,253 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,422,000. Palo Alto Networks comprises approximately 1.1% of WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,316,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares during the period. United Bank lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 6,835 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 35.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $886,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 22.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 2,582 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $882,000 after buying an additional 481 shares during the period. Finally, Baldwin Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC now owns 8,027 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,744,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $184.96 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $122.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 104.20, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $187.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $185.38. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.50 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price target (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. BTIG Research lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.