OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Invests $257,000 in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,412 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $257,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds 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 position in Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% in the fourth quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,378 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 1,226 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 5,658 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% during the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,886,000 after buying an additional 11,095 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $244,871,000 after buying an additional 606,778 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at $48,629,704.62. The trade was a 27.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $192.98. 4,182,191 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,710,292. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $177.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.13. The stock has a market cap of $127.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.72, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.01 and a 1-year high of $208.39.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating and set a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.46.

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.