Menora Mivtachim Holdings LTD. Acquires 139,534 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Menora Mivtachim Holdings LTD. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 100.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 279,068 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 139,534 shares during the quarter. Menora Mivtachim Holdings LTD.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $50,779,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. 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 holdings 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $970,736,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% during 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 buying an additional 2,612,474 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 86.9% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,775,171 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $868,890,000 after buying an additional 2,220,130 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,039,318 shares of company stock worth $181,925,602. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on PANW. Stephens started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $205.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. BTIG Research cut Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.06.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW traded down $2.07 during trading on Thursday, hitting $167.69. The stock had a trading volume of 4,768,742 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,882,016. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $137.60 and a one year high of $208.39. The firm has a market cap of $111.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.47, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $181.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.73.

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

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.