Dana Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 98.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,622 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 2,296 shares during the quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $841,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,609,486,000 after purchasing an additional 220,900 shares in the last quarter. 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 valued at $1,048,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,474 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $764,764,000 after purchasing an additional 2,197,765 shares in the last quarter. 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 valued at $333,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213,073 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 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 valued at $297,450,000 after purchasing an additional 848,127 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.
Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating and issued a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $205.06.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on PANW
Shares of PANW traded up $1.60 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $180.93. The stock had a trading volume of 4,808,087 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,942,114. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $186.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.78. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.50 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.93, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. As a group, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.
In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 13.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.
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.
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