Fisher Asset Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,897 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 212 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $559,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1,978.9% during the 4th quarter. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC now owns 21,267 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,271,000 after acquiring an additional 20,244 shares in the last quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,183 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $349,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 30.7% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 4,575 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,349,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074 shares during the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 48,557 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $14,318,000 after acquiring an additional 953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 38,312 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $11,297,000 after purchasing an additional 3,364 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the transaction, the president now owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 280,193 shares of company stock worth $80,670,132 over the last 90 days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.6 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $297.47 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $285.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $294.54. The stock has a market cap of $96.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.48, a PEG ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 1.18. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $186.75 and a 52 week high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.