TimesSquare Capital Management LLC Cuts Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

TimesSquare Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 90.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,560 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 93,540 shares during the quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,740,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in 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 period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $333,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213,073 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 107.8% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,634,701 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $297,450,000 after purchasing an additional 848,127 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.1% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,562,722 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $284,353,000 after purchasing an additional 796,964 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on PANW. OTR Global reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. HSBC downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Loop Capital dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $205.19 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.04 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.60, a P/E/G ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $187.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $182.68.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business’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 owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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 represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.