TCW Group Inc. Has $151.85 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

TCW Group Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 514,943 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 13,610 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for 1.7% of TCW Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. TCW Group Inc. owned 0.16% of Palo Alto Networks worth $151,850,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. GSG Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 5,160 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 300 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 112,040 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $33,038,000 after acquiring an additional 26,767 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 24,726 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,291,000 after acquiring an additional 2,225 shares during the period. Finally, Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 46.4% during the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 4,178 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 1,325 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was 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 directly owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total value of $36,334,289.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,895,983.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 280,193 shares of company stock valued at $80,670,132 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Northland Securities downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $385.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $350.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $317.45.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded up $2.86 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $311.44. 3,834,142 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,166,696. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $289.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $299.07. The company has a market cap of $100.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.79, a P/E/G ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 1.18. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $194.08 and a 12-month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current 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.