Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by USS Investment Management Ltd

USS Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 97.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 105,260 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,949 shares during the period. USS Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $19,160,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Waverly Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 404.8% in the 4th quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 6,648 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,210,000 after acquiring an additional 5,331 shares in the last quarter. Whelan Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $212,000. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 121.5% during the 4th quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 2,182 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $397,000 after purchasing an additional 1,197 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 53.9% during the 4th quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 321,196 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $58,445,000 after purchasing an additional 112,533 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victrix Investment Advisors purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $318,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JMP Securities increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total transaction of $22,858,894.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 293,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,458,002.70. This represents a 29.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $194.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $128.77 billion, a PE ratio of 109.57, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $178.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $185.32. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.01 and a 1-year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.