ProShare Advisors LLC Has $160.02 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 141.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 879,418 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 515,079 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC owned 0.13% of Palo Alto Networks worth $160,019,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in 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 valued at $1,533,419,000 after buying an additional 3,841,359 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position 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 buying an additional 4,486,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,324,387,000 after buying an additional 1,088,631 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of 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. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.46.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $192.98. The stock had a trading volume of 4,182,191 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,710,292. The business's 50 day moving average is $177.37 and its 200 day moving average is $185.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. 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 (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. The trade was a 27.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

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.