Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by GF Fund Management CO. LTD.

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 1.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 141,158 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,349 shares during the quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $24,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,611,013,000 after acquiring an additional 6,725,148 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,427,048,000 after acquiring an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,533,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Northland Securities decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 101,135 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,414,099.75. This represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,243,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,356,888.56. This trade represents a 2.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 668,722 shares of company stock worth $121,714,798 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.3%

NASDAQ:PANW traded up $4.53 on Friday, hitting $201.50. 2,561,725 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,398,532. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $193.35 and a 200-day moving average of $185.44. The stock has a market cap of $134.36 billion, a PE ratio of 115.14, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. The company's revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.