Man Group plc Buys 41,066 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Man Group plc grew its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 34.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 159,455 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 41,066 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $29,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% in the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,378 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,226 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,122,000 after acquiring an additional 5,658 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% during the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,886,000 after acquiring an additional 11,095 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $244,871,000 after acquiring an additional 606,778 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Roth Capital assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday. They set a "neutral" rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Stephens lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.46.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded up $0.08 on Friday, hitting $192.98. The company had a trading volume of 4,182,191 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,710,292. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $177.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $185.16. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.01 and a 1 year high of $208.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.72, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.24 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total transaction of $22,858,894.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 293,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,458,002.70. This trade represents a 29.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the firm'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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

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.