Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Bought by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 11.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 73,952 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,792 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $13,622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Klingman & Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the third quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,131 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $434,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% during the third quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $276,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.8% during the third quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 39.7% during the third quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 176 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.0% during the third quarter. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. now owns 1,056 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $215,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $183.98 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $223.61. The company has a 50-day moving average of $164.16 and a 200-day moving average of $180.84. The firm has a market cap of $150.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 0.77.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora acquired 68,085 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 343,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,434,276.78. This trade represents a 24.73% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John P. Key sold 1,572 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.32, for a total transaction of $272,459.04. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,466,400. This represents a 7.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 30,356 shares of company stock worth $4,981,575. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. New Street Research lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 target price (down from $245.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.84.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.