Axecap Investments LLC Boosts Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Axecap Investments LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 28.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,669 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,944 shares during the period. Axecap Investments LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,479,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,611,013,000 after acquiring an additional 6,725,148 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,533,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,427,048,000 after purchasing an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,324,387,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088,631 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 321,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,629,704.62. The trade was a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at $586,132,981.56. This represents a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.8%

PANW opened at $194.39 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $129.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 109.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $182.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.09. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.01 and a 52-week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.