Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 82.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 671 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $270,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $328,470,000 after acquiring an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth $3,844,000. Dillon & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 50,650 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $17,322,000 after acquiring an additional 2,167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proactive Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth $3,571,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on PANW shares. BTIG Research lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Three 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $180.93 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $186.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $184.81. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.50 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.93, a PEG 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 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.