Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Has $2.65 Million Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 54.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,560 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 17,569 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,649,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 102.3% during the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 136,937 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $24,917,000 after acquiring an additional 69,231 shares during the last quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $290,000. Sierra Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% during the fourth quarter. Sierra Capital LLC now owns 3,774 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 90.5% in the 4th quarter. Brown Financial Advisors now owns 7,069 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,286,000 after buying an additional 3,358 shares during the period. Finally, Wrapmanager Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 92.4% in the 4th quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,997 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $363,000 after buying an additional 959 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on PANW. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Hsbc Global Res cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.1 %

PANW opened at $187.50 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $186.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.50 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The stock has a market cap of $124.14 billion, a PE ratio of 105.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current 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.