ProShare Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 141.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 879,418 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 515,079 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.13% of Palo Alto Networks worth $160,019,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $11,142,122,000 after purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,611,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,427,048,000 after purchasing an additional 4,486,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,533,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. The trade was a 2.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Susquehanna lifted 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. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.06.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.6%

PANW stock opened at $190.90 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $126.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 107.55, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.01 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $176.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted 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. The business 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, research analysts forecast 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.