Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Grows Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 96.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 20,541 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,076 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PANW. HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $178.93 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.50 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The company has a market cap of $118.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 100.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $185.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $184.83.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share 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.