Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by Washington Trust Bank

Washington Trust Bank lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 90.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 134,414 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 63,727 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 2.3% of Washington Trust Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Washington Trust Bank’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $24,458,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PANW. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in 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 during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $764,764,000 after purchasing an additional 2,197,765 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $388,155,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $333,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,213,073 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 91.4% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,839,400 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $334,697,000 after acquiring an additional 878,400 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Susquehanna increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has 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 target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $182.32 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $186.59 and a 200-day moving average of $185.00. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $132.50 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The firm has a market cap of $120.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 102.72, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current 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.