Montag & Caldwell LLC Boosts Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Montag & Caldwell LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 79.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 27,894 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,387 shares during the period. Montag & Caldwell LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,076,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after buying an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,611,013,000 after buying an additional 6,725,148 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $970,736,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,048,033,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 86.9% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,775,171 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $868,890,000 after acquiring an additional 2,220,130 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of several analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. BTIG Research lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,039,318 shares of company stock valued at $181,925,602 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.0 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $169.98 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $112.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.18 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $181.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.92.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.