Financial Management Network Inc. Boosts Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Financial Management Network Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 92.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,004 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,398 shares during the quarter. Financial Management Network Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $917,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,609,486,000 after acquiring an additional 220,900 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 2,612,474 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,249,594 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,005,161 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $685,364,000 after acquiring an additional 31,595 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,213,073 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Loop Capital reduced their target price on 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. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $208.28 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.04 and a 12 month high of $208.35. The stock has a market cap of $136.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 117.34, a P/E/G ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $186.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $182.29.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS 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.