Rakuten Securities Inc. Acquires New Shares in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,610 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $770,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 61.8% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 55 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,961 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,843,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 425 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $265,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 452 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at $67,955,958.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,955,958.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553 over the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PANW. Northland Securities lowered Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Mizuho decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Piper Sandler lowered Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $350.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Wedbush lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.5 %

PANW traded up $1.33 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $276.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,674,315 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,598,948. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $176.30 and a twelve month high of $380.84. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $300.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $290.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share 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.