Korea Investment CORP Has $116.85 Million Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Korea Investment CORP raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 150.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 642,191 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 385,537 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned 0.10% of Palo Alto Networks worth $116,853,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,048,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,474 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,197,765 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $388,155,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position 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 buying an additional 1,213,073 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley set a $230.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $184.96 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.38. 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 capitalization of $122.46 billion, a PE ratio of 104.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

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

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.