William Blair Investment Management LLC Has $229.93 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 59.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,263,629 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 470,930 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 0.19% of Palo Alto Networks worth $229,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% in the 4th quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Abound Wealth Management increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% in the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 265.0% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 102.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $182.34 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $120.73 billion, a PE ratio of 102.73, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50-day moving average is $185.63 and its 200-day moving average is $184.93. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.50 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

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.