Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Acquired by Assetmark Inc.

Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 89.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 157,527 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 74,299 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $28,664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,048,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,474 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $764,764,000 after purchasing an additional 2,197,765 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213,073 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 107.8% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,634,701 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $297,450,000 after purchasing an additional 848,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.1% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,562,722 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $284,353,000 after purchasing an additional 796,964 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,353,042.65. This trade represents a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $195,596,176.16. This represents a 13.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price target (down previously from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, BTIG Research lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $184.28 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $186.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.74. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $132.50 and a one year high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal 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.