Legal & General Group Plc Acquires 2,067,838 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 59.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,552,888 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 2,067,838 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.85% of Palo Alto Networks worth $1,010,403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during 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% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,611,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $970,736,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,048,033,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 86.9% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,775,171 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $868,890,000 after purchasing an additional 2,220,130 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,353,042.65. The trade was a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 939,318 shares of company stock valued at $165,384,602. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.3 %

Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $4.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $168.99. 3,632,807 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,900,309. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $182.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.83. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $135.18 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.31, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on PANW. Guggenheim downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. BTIG Research cut Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com lowered Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. HSBC upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.52.

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.