FORA Capital LLC Buys 43,544 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

FORA Capital LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 888.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,445 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 43,544 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up about 1.0% of FORA Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. FORA Capital LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $8,815,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,226 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% in the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,886,000 after purchasing an additional 11,095 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 606,778 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Susquehanna upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This represents a 2.74 % decrease in their position. 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 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of PANW traded down $1.60 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $186.93. 3,209,190 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,733,951. The business has a 50-day moving average of $176.07 and a 200 day moving average of $184.76. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $142.01 and a one year high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.31, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.