TIAA Trust National Association Increases Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

TIAA Trust National Association raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 305.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 124,603 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 93,877 shares during the quarter. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $22,673,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PANW. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,316,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619 shares during the last quarter. United Bank lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 6,835 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 35.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $886,000 after buying an additional 677 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 22.9% during the third quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 2,582 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $882,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 69.3% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 5,249 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,794,000 after acquiring an additional 2,149 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $189.95 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $125.77 billion, a PE ratio of 107.01, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $187.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.38. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.50 and a 1-year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PANW. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, BTIG Research cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other 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 transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $195,596,176.16. This represents a 13.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.