Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Position Lifted by Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.

Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 94.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,728 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,029 shares during the quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,136,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 220,900 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $1,048,033,000 after buying an additional 2,612,474 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $970,736,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $764,764,000 after buying an additional 2,197,765 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of 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. Three 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.25.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ:PANW traded down $1.89 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $170.87. 3,627,977 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,901,177. The company has a market capitalization of $113.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $132.50 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $187.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $185.49.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (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 analysts' expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the business'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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % 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 worth $204,315,811. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

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.