Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Acquired by Wintrust Investments LLC

Wintrust Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,402 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 703 shares during the quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $255,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in 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 worth $1,048,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,474 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $764,764,000 after buying an additional 2,197,765 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $388,155,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% during 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 buying an additional 1,213,073 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 91.4% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,839,400 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $334,697,000 after purchasing an additional 878,400 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PANW. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total transaction of $31,730,609.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $195,596,176.16. The trade was a 13.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $179.48 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.50 and a 52-week high of $208.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $185.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.79. The company has a market cap of $118.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 101.12, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for 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, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal 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.