ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd Purchases 4,318 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 102.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,545 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,318 shares during the quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Tradewinds LLC. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $791,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,741,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klingman & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the third quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 750 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock traded down $7.78 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $191.03. The stock had a trading volume of 5,451,305 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,377,549. The firm has a market cap of $126.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50-day moving average of $187.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $182.95. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.50 and a 52-week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.24 billion. Research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. HSBC downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "hold" rating to a "reduce" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. OTR Global restated a "negative" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $217.50 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong 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 $202.70.

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.