Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Has $53.69 Million Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 104.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 295,050 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 150,452 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $53,687,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% in the 4th 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. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $388,155,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $333,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 91.4% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,839,400 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $334,697,000 after buying an additional 878,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Guggenheim lowered Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 6th. BTIG Research downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of PANW traded up $5.16 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $189.95. 5,336,425 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,737,396. The business has a 50-day moving average of $186.92 and a 200 day moving average of $185.23. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $132.50 and a one year high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.01, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during 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, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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 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 SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.