Temasek Holdings Private Ltd Invests $4.52 Million in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Temasek Holdings Private Ltd acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 24,850 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,522,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% during the fourth quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 265.0% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.0%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $192.98 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.01 and a 52-week high of $208.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $177.37 and its 200 day moving average is $185.13. The company has a market cap of $127.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.72, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its 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 net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73% 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 Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following 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. This represents a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.46.

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.