Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Has $602.95 Million Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 144.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,313,633 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 1,957,508 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks accounts for 0.7% of Pictet Asset Management Holding SA's portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned approximately 0.50% of Palo Alto Networks worth $602,949,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $11,142,122,000 after buying an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,609,486,000 after acquiring an additional 220,900 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in 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 valued at $1,048,033,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,474 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $970,736,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $764,764,000 after purchasing an additional 2,197,765 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

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Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ PANW traded down $1.68 on Friday, hitting $172.76. 6,244,293 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,908,199. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.50 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $187.39 and a 200-day moving average of $185.39. The stock has a market cap of $114.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.33, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on PANW. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, February 10th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $205.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.