Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Invests $490,000 in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,870 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $490,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 150 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of a number of research reports. HSBC raised Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Roth Capital began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $210.00 price objective on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Northland Securities lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW traded up $3.69 during trading on Thursday, hitting $196.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,297,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,411,937. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $195.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.94. The stock has a market cap of $130.88 billion, a PE ratio of 112.16, a PEG ratio of 5.38 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $208.39.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total value of $1,009,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 101,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,414,099.75. The trade was a 4.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.66, for a total value of $19,866,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,243,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,356,888.56. The trade was a 2.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 569,248 shares of company stock worth $111,279,829 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by 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.