Handelsbanken Fonder AB Raises Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 87.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 368,414 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 171,714 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $67,037,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position 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 valued at $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,005,161 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $685,364,000 after acquiring an additional 31,595 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted 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 valued at $333,925,000 after buying an additional 1,213,073 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, BTIG Research lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $205.19 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $135.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.04 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The company’s 50-day moving average is $187.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, 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 a total of 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.