Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $188.37 Million Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 152.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,035,235 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 625,565 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.16% of Palo Alto Networks worth $188,371,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 220,900 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $1,048,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,474 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,005,161 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $685,364,000 after buying an additional 31,595 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% in 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 buying an additional 1,213,073 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $185.00 target price (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $217.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $205.19 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.65 billion, a PE ratio of 115.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.04 and a 52-week high of $208.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $187.11 and a 200 day moving average of $182.68.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.