O Dell Group LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

O Dell Group LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,320 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,160 shares during the quarter. O Dell Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $422,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,048,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,474 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $764,764,000 after purchasing an additional 2,197,765 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $388,155,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213,073 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 107.8% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,634,701 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $297,450,000 after purchasing an additional 848,127 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. The trade was a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $173.83 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.09 billion, a PE ratio of 97.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $185.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.80. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $132.50 and a 1 year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS 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.