Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Acquired by Comprehensive Financial Management LLC

Comprehensive Financial Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 100.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,804 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 9,402 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 0.1% of Comprehensive Financial Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Comprehensive Financial Management LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after buying an additional 31,281,359 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,611,013,000 after buying an additional 6,725,148 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,427,048,000 after acquiring an additional 4,486,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,533,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,841,359 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, March 31st. HSBC raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "hold" rating and set a $190.00 price target (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.06.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total value of $18,252,574.62. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 448,188 shares of company stock worth $74,074,795 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $188.69 on Wednesday. The stock's 50 day moving average is $175.97 and its 200 day moving average is $184.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.93 billion, a PE ratio of 106.30, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $208.39.

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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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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