Wahed Invest LLC Raises Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Wahed Invest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 113.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 15,932 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,452 shares during the period. Wahed Invest LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,899,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in 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 lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,611,013,000 after buying an additional 6,725,148 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,533,419,000 after buying an additional 3,841,359 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $1,427,048,000 after acquiring an additional 4,486,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,048,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,474 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.3 %

PANW stock traded up $0.56 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $188.69. The company had a trading volume of 2,661,474 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,769,405. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.01 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $175.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.68. The firm has a market cap of $124.93 billion, a PE ratio of 106.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07.

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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total value of $18,252,574.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. This trade represents a 27.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 448,188 shares of company stock worth $74,074,795 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.