Phoenix Financial Ltd. Raises Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Phoenix Financial Ltd. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 93.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 471,889 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 228,488 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 1.2% of Phoenix Financial Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Phoenix Financial Ltd. owned about 0.07% of Palo Alto Networks worth $86,797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,977 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $676,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% during the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Virtue Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 1,690 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $578,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 906 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $165,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 70.3% in the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities increased their price target 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. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. BTIG Research cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,629,704.62. The trade was a 27.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 939,318 shares of company stock valued at $165,384,602. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 13.4 %

PANW opened at $173.02 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $114.56 billion, a PE ratio of 97.48, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.18 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $182.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.83.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS 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.