Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Has $2.12 Million Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 94.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,661 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 5,658 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,122,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $244,871,000 after buying an additional 606,778 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,883 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $707,000 after purchasing an additional 934 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 103.0% in the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 97,351 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $17,714,000 after purchasing an additional 49,391 shares during the period. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 96.8% in the 4th quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI now owns 3,070 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $559,000 after purchasing an additional 1,510 shares during the period. Finally, Trinity Legacy Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 107.5% in the 4th quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC now owns 26,672 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,853,000 after purchasing an additional 13,819 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Susquehanna upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. JMP Securities upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $182.32 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $132.50 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $186.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 102.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current 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.