Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Takes Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,870 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $490,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 150 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Northland Securities cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $99,940.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,640,080. This represents a 5.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total transaction of $22,858,894.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 293,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,458,002.70. This represents a 29.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 569,248 shares of company stock valued at $111,279,829 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.4%

NASDAQ PANW opened at $187.39 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.01 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The company has a market capitalization of $124.95 billion, a PE ratio of 107.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $195.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.73.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS 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.