Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Acquired by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 199,164 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,976 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.06% of Palo Alto Networks worth $67,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,129,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,127 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at about $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $150,520,000 after buying an additional 444,100 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 63.8% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 640,755 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $188,946,000 after buying an additional 249,455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $799,792,000 after acquiring an additional 198,078 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $366.08.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total transaction of $67,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,982 shares in the company, valued at $8,443,916. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 464,075 shares of company stock valued at $154,029,567. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $335.75 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $230.09 and a 1 year high of $380.84. The company has a market cap of $109.32 billion, a PE ratio of 48.80, a PEG ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $337.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $315.35.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks 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.