Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd Decreases Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd decreased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 83.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 212 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 1,061 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up 0.1% of Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $39,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,612,474 shares in 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 worth $764,764,000 after acquiring an additional 2,197,765 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $388,155,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $333,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,213,073 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 91.4% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on PANW. Citigroup boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. BTIG Research cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Three equities research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $182.32 on Friday. 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 $120.71 billion, a PE ratio of 102.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $186.59 and its 200-day moving average is $185.00.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s 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 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks 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.