Westwood Wealth Management Has $4.98 Million Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Westwood Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 99.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,346 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,668 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 1.8% of Westwood Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Westwood Wealth Management’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,976,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.9% during the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 787 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $143,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 75.4% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 471,317 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $85,761,000 after purchasing an additional 202,606 shares in the last quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% during the fourth quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 8,629 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,570,000 after purchasing an additional 4,486 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 197.8% during the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 27,604 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,023,000 after purchasing an additional 18,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Titleist Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 150.5% in the fourth quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC now owns 3,309 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $602,000 after buying an additional 1,988 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Guggenheim downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. 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 two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.27.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 7.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $153.57 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $101.68 billion, a PE ratio of 86.52, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $185.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.22. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $132.83 and a twelve month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. The trade was a 21.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,114,786 shares of company stock worth $200,426,637. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.