Northern Trust Corp Increases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 133.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 4,486,654 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,427,048,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of PANW. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $548,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,122,000 after acquiring an additional 5,658 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% during the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,886,000 after acquiring an additional 11,095 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $244,871,000 after acquiring an additional 606,778 shares during the period. Finally, Mosley Wealth Management boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 116.2% during the fourth quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 3,023 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 1,625 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. HSBC raised Palo Alto Networks from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $156.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price target (down previously from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.06.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $178.98 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $142.00 and a one year high of $208.39. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $176.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.72. The company has a market capitalization of $118.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 100.83, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This represents a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. The trade was a 2.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,039,318 shares of company stock valued at $181,925,602. Corporate insiders own 2.50% 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.