Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Reduces Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. reduced its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 35.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 284,719 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 153,191 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 1.5% of Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. owned approximately 0.09% of Palo Alto Networks worth $83,962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 61.8% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 55 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,961 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,843,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 425 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $265,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 452 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $281,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded down $4.79 on Friday, reaching $279.07. The stock had a trading volume of 2,907,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,750,887. The stock has a market cap of $90.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.19. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $176.30 and a 1 year high of $380.84. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $303.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $289.73.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Capital One Financial lowered Palo Alto Networks from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $302.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Loop Capital lowered Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $300.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Northland Securities lowered Palo Alto Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and set a $275.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered Palo Alto Networks from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $350.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $314.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director John Donovan sold 8,100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.04, for a total transaction of $2,673,324.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 30,352 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,017,374.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at $46,659,063. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 176,017 shares of company stock valued at $52,068,877. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company 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.