Legal & General Group Plc Boosts Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 59.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,552,888 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,067,838 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.85% of Palo Alto Networks worth $1,010,403,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $548,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 5,658 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% in the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,886,000 after purchasing an additional 11,095 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $244,871,000 after buying an additional 606,778 shares during the period. Finally, Mosley Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 116.2% during the 4th quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 3,023 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 1,625 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BTIG Research lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Stephens started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $230.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.27.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 818,544 shares of company stock valued at $147,132,028. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 7.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $153.57 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $185.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.36. The stock has a market cap of $101.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.52, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.83 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39.

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 for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.