Formula Growth Ltd. Buys 5,823 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Formula Growth Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 92.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,146 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 5,823 shares during the period. Formula Growth Ltd.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $11,142,122,000 after purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,611,013,000 after buying an additional 6,725,148 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in the fourth 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 during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 59.3% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,552,888 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,010,403,000 after buying an additional 2,067,838 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $970,736,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. JMP Securities increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Stephens started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $205.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 321,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,629,704.62. This trade represents a 27.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,039,318 shares of company stock valued at $181,925,602 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $167.69 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.73. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $137.60 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.47, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share 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.