Plato Investment Management Ltd Buys 4,816 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,629 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,816 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,758,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $183.68 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $186.55 and a 200 day moving average of $184.63. The company has a market capitalization of $121.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.48, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.50 and a 1-year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its 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 return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on PANW. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. OTR Global reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Citigroup lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the business’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 value of $31,730,609.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, 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 worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.