Renaissance Technologies LLC Purchases 432,052 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 171.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 683,552 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 432,052 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned 0.10% of Palo Alto Networks worth $124,379,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. First Dallas Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 2,130 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $728,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. RB Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the third quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 2,492 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $852,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,977 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $676,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtue Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the third quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 1,690 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $578,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. The trade was a 21.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 939,318 shares of company stock valued at $165,384,602 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PANW. UBS Group upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stephens began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley set a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.52.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ:PANW traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $168.34. 6,295,092 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,904,752. The company has a market cap of $111.46 billion, a PE ratio of 94.84, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $182.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.90. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $135.18 and a one year high of $208.39.

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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current 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.