EDENTREE ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd Purchases 24,425 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

EDENTREE ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 48,850 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,425 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 2.6% of EDENTREE ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. EDENTREE ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $8,889,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% during the fourth quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,378 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 1,226 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,122,000 after buying an additional 5,658 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% during the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,886,000 after buying an additional 11,095 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $244,871,000 after buying an additional 606,778 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total transaction of $22,858,894.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 293,010 shares in the company, valued at $55,458,002.70. This represents a 29.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of several analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. HSBC raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $156.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.40.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $181.26 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $120.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $178.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $185.29. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.01 and a 1-year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share 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.