William Blair Investment Management LLC Has $229.93 Million Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 59.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,263,629 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 470,930 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $229,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $268,851,000 after buying an additional 129,371 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $36,316,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares in the last quarter. United Bank raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 6,835 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,336,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth $231,000. Finally, KCM Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 65.3% during the 3rd quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 975 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Guggenheim cut Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.06.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,214,409.80. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $182.34 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $120.73 billion, a PE ratio of 102.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.50 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $185.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current 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.