Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Acquires 716 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,296 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 716 shares during the period. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 2,050,917 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,187,915 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,453.6% in the 3rd quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 437,910 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $102,670,000 after acquiring an additional 431,228 shares during the period. Railway Pension Investments Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 463.5% in the 3rd quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 493,053 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $115,591,000 after acquiring an additional 405,553 shares during the period. Finally, Mirova US LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $106,638,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. Northland Securities downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays dropped their target price 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $378.00 to $327.00 and set an “outperform” 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ:PANW traded up $2.63 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $291.42. 2,245,297 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,423,290. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $176.30 and a 52-week high of $380.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $287.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $292.10. The company has a market cap of $94.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. Equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at $67,955,958.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. Company insiders own 3.30% 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.