Klingman & Associates LLC Increases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Klingman & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 133.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,752 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,002 shares during the period. Klingman & Associates LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after acquiring an additional 220,900 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,048,033,000 after buying an additional 2,612,474 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,005,161 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $685,364,000 after buying an additional 31,595 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,925,000 after buying an additional 1,213,073 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $205.19 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.04 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $182.68. The stock has a market cap of $134.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.60, a P/E/G ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This trade represents 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 have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. OTR Global reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.70.

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.