First Command Advisory Services Inc. Acquires 208 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

First Command Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 416 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $76,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,048,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,474 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $333,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,213,073 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 107.8% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,634,701 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $297,450,000 after acquiring an additional 848,127 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.1% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,562,722 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $284,353,000 after acquiring an additional 796,964 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.6% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,374,653 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $250,132,000 after acquiring an additional 689,458 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $187.50 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.50 and a 52-week high of $208.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.14 billion, a PE ratio of 105.63, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $186.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. JMP Securities boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. BTIG Research cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks 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.