Alberta Investment Management Corp Reduces Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Key Points

• Alberta Investment Management Corp sold 24,986,100 shares of Palo Alto Networks, decreasing its holdings by 99.9%, leaving it with only 23,100 shares valued at approximately $3.9 million.
• Insider sales at Palo Alto Networks included EVP Dipak Golechha selling 5,000 shares and EVP Nir Zuk offloading 100,000 shares, representing 4.71% and 2.99% decreases in their respective positions.
• Palo Alto Networks had a recent earnings report showing $0.80 EPS, beating estimates, and a quarterly revenue increase of 15.3% year-over-year, totaling $2.29 billion.

Alberta Investment Management Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 99.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,100 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 24,986,100 shares during the quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,942,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Howland Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC now owns 3,058 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $522,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,429,519 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $243,933,000 after buying an additional 100,765 shares in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.9% in the first quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 50,513 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $8,619,000 after buying an additional 944 shares in the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% during the first quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 7,188 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,227,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lyell Wealth Management LP raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% during the first quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 160,670 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $27,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,484 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. HSBC raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $209.61.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW traded down $1.88 during trading on Monday, reaching $171.00. 11,170,850 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,542,559. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $187.36. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.01 and a 12-month high of $210.39. The company has a market cap of $114.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.71, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.66, for a total value of $19,866,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,243,516 shares in the company, valued at $644,356,888.56. The trade was a 2.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $99,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,640,080. The trade was a 5.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 448,474 shares of company stock worth $88,420,934. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.