Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 163.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 950 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 590 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks comprises about 1.0% of Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $280,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,511,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,215,410,000 after acquiring an additional 304,272 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,430,299 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $804,199,000 after buying an additional 86,995 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,616,803 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $771,643,000 after buying an additional 1,187,915 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29,086.9% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,057,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $606,854,000 after buying an additional 2,050,917 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,662,820 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $389,832,000 after buying an additional 36,859 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded up $11.81 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $293.49. The company had a trading volume of 4,060,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,531,698. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $292.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $291.84. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $176.30 and a 1-year high of $380.84. The firm has a market cap of $94.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.82.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.