Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $26.63 Million Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 105.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 146,360 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 75,249 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $26,632,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,609,486,000 after purchasing an additional 220,900 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,048,033,000 after buying an additional 2,612,474 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 2,197,765 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $388,155,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,213,073 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Guggenheim lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.9 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $180.93 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $186.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.50 and a 1-year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 90 days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.