Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Has $84.37 Million Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 65.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 463,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 182,850 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $84,373,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $328,470,000 after purchasing an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at about $3,844,000. Dillon & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% in the third quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 50,650 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $17,322,000 after purchasing an additional 2,167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proactive Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at about $3,571,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. The trade was 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price target (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays cut their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. HSBC lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Three equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $180.93 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $119.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 101.93, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $132.50 and a 1 year high of $208.39. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.81.

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 (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.