Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Key Points

• Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd recently acquired 305,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: PANW), valued at approximately $52 million, marking a significant new investment in the cybersecurity firm.
• Palo Alto Networks reported a 15.3% year-over-year revenue increase for the last quarter, reaching $2.29 billion, and earnings of $0.80 per share, surpassing analysts' expectations.
• Despite the successes, a range of brokerages have varied outlooks on PANW, with Northland Securities lowering its price target from $210 to $177 and setting a "market perform" rating.

Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 305,000 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $52,045,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 115.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 43,985 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $8,004,000 after purchasing an additional 23,586 shares in the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $236,000. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $970,000. Finally, Granite Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,816 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $694,000 after purchasing an additional 1,908 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. Northland Securities cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Roth Capital began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $217.07.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director directly owned 8,632 shares in the company, valued at $1,640,080. The trade was a 5.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total transaction of $17,280,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,143,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $543,199,564.80. This represents a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 669,248 shares of company stock valued at $126,423,337 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.7%

PANW opened at $168.17 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $210.39. The company has a 50 day moving average of $193.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $186.78. The company has a market cap of $112.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 96.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share 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.

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