Rakuten Securities Inc. Takes $770,000 Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,610 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $770,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Worth Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $26,000. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 61.8% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 55 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,071.4% in the second quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 82 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% in the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded up $1.33 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $276.35. 1,674,315 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,598,948. The firm has a market cap of $89.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.19. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $176.30 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $300.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $290.27.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on PANW. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $350.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $378.00 to $327.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.82.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,955,958.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.