New York Life Investment Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 48,557 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 953 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $14,318,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Webster Bank N. A. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% during the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 277.8% during the 3rd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 136 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 122,917 shares of company stock valued at $33,959,203 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $290.82 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $176.35 and a 12 month high of $380.84. The stock has a market cap of $93.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $285.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $293.00.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Redburn Atlantic raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks 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.