First Manhattan CO. LLC. Grows Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 105.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,404 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,772 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $983,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its stake 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 valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 906 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $165,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 70.3% during the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abound Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% during the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. KeyCorp decreased 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 research report on Thursday, April 17th. Stephens cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. The trade was a 41.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were 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 directly owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at $48,629,704.62. This trade represents a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $186.93 on Monday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $176.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.78. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.01 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The company has a market capitalization of $123.77 billion, a PE ratio of 105.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS 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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