D.A. Davidson & CO. Increases Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 110.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 66,078 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 34,711 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $12,024,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,048,033,000 after buying an additional 2,612,474 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,925,000 after buying an additional 1,213,073 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 107.8% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,634,701 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $297,450,000 after buying an additional 848,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 104.1% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,562,722 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $284,353,000 after purchasing an additional 796,964 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on PANW. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.70.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total transaction of $31,730,609.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $195,596,176.16. This represents a 13.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 4.1 %

PANW opened at $208.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $186.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $182.29. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.04 and a 12-month high of $208.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.24, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 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.