Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by Palogic Value Management L.P.

Palogic Value Management L.P. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,500 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,250 shares during the quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $819,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% during the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 22,728 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,136,000 after purchasing an additional 11,029 shares during the period. Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,493,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 126.1% during the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 11,870 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,160,000 after buying an additional 6,621 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 110.0% in the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 115,443 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $21,007,000 after acquiring an additional 60,478 shares during the period. Finally, Alerus Financial NA increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 90.3% during the fourth quarter. Alerus Financial NA now owns 13,693 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,492,000 after acquiring an additional 6,498 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at $65,353,042.65. This represents a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Guggenheim cut Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Three investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $172.76 on Friday. 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 50-day simple moving average of $187.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.31. The company has a market capitalization of $114.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 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.