Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Has $2.52 Million Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 109.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,856 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 7,256 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,521,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after purchasing an additional 220,900 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,048,033,000 after buying an additional 2,612,474 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 2,197,765 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $388,155,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 91.4% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,839,400 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $334,697,000 after acquiring an additional 878,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $217.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. BTIG Research downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Three investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $184.01 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $132.50 and a 1 year high of $208.39. The firm has a market cap of $121.83 billion, a PE ratio of 103.67, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.00.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

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

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.