60,697 Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Purchased by Sapient Capital LLC

Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 60,697 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,898,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 29,086.9% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,057,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $606,854,000 after acquiring an additional 2,050,917 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 83.1% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,616,803 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $771,643,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187,915 shares in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6,453.6% in the 3rd quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 437,910 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $102,670,000 after acquiring an additional 431,228 shares in the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 463.5% in the 3rd quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 493,053 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $115,591,000 after acquiring an additional 405,553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirova US LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $106,638,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total transaction of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $373,434,232.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 158,917 shares of company stock worth $44,335,843 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded up $0.89 on Friday, reaching $296.21. 3,438,974 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,429,938. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $177.09 and a twelve month high of $380.84. The company has a fifty day moving average of $285.98 and a 200-day moving average of $293.25. The company has a market capitalization of $95.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.28, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.18.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on PANW. Wedbush upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Piper Sandler cut Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $350.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Citigroup increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, January 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.82.

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.