Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd Increases Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 4.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 320,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 15,000 shares during the period. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $65,485,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,016,374 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,100,311,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240,830 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,174,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,093,262,000 after purchasing an additional 169,055 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,234,650,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,735 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,902,048 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,177,765,000 after buying an additional 950,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at about $810,047,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of PANW opened at $201.00 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $223.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $209.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $197.42. The company has a market capitalization of $137.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 125.23, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 0.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Piper Sandler upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $225.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Barclays boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Twenty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.97, for a total transaction of $153,979.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,449,674.85. This represents a 1.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total transaction of $26,321,485.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 356,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,675,777.46. The trade was a 25.31% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 1,215,830 shares of company stock valued at $249,160,428 in the last three months. 1.40% 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.