Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Sells 3,725 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd trimmed its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,757 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 3,725 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $12,608,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Webster Bank N. A. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% during the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. First United Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a 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 dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 280,193 shares of company stock valued at $80,670,132 in the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $290.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $317.20.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.5 %

PANW traded down $1.71 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $309.95. The company had a trading volume of 2,624,988 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,160,077. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $288.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $299.00. The stock has a market cap of $100.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.75, a PEG ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 1.18. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $188.83 and a 52 week high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 37.81%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.