Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Buys 39,900 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 29.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 174,596 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,900 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $29,793,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% in the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,378 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,226 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,125 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,410,000 after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares during the period. Diligent Investors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 3,430 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,715 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 137,663 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $23,491,000 after purchasing an additional 10,180 shares during the period. Finally, Shorepoint Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.4% in the 4th quarter. Shorepoint Capital Partners LLC now owns 20,898 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,803,000 after purchasing an additional 10,868 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $496.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Piper Sandler raised Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $200.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Northland Securities lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, UBS Group set a $185.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.52.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.8%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $176.86 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.15 and a twelve month high of $210.39. The company has a market cap of $117.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s fifty day moving average is $192.92 and its 200 day moving average is $186.63.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total transaction of $17,280,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,143,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $543,199,564.80. This trade represents a 3.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total value of $1,009,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 101,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,414,099.75. This trade represents a 4.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 669,248 shares of company stock worth $126,423,337 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.