Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Acquired by Whittier Trust Co.

Whittier Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 130.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,094 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,553 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after purchasing an additional 220,900 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 2,612,474 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $764,764,000 after purchasing an additional 2,197,765 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth $388,155,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 91.4% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,839,400 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $334,697,000 after buying an additional 878,400 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Citigroup increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, HSBC lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $182.32 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $120.71 billion, a PE ratio of 102.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $186.59 and a 200-day moving average of $185.00. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.50 and a 52 week high of $208.39.

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

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. Company 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.