Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Buys 1,622,841 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 665.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,866,583 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 1,622,841 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks comprises 1.2% of Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned 0.28% of Palo Alto Networks worth $339,643,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted 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 valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% in the fourth quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Abound Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW traded down $0.86 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $191.14. The stock had a trading volume of 1,138,156 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,717,178. The company has a market capitalization of $126.56 billion, a PE ratio of 107.44, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.01 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The company's 50-day moving average price is $176.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.90.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, February 10th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total value of $22,858,894.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 293,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,458,002.70. This represents a 29.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks 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.