Capital Management Associates NY Boosts Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Capital Management Associates NY boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up 2.1% of Capital Management Associates NY’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Capital Management Associates NY’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,820,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after purchasing an additional 220,900 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $764,764,000 after purchasing an additional 2,197,765 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $388,155,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 91.4% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,839,400 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $334,697,000 after acquiring an additional 878,400 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $182.34 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $132.50 and a 1 year high of $208.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $185.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.79. The company has a market cap of $120.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.73, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PANW. HSBC downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks 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.