Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW Shares Bought by Global X Japan Co. Ltd.

Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 5,534.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 7,804 shares during the quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,618,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Strive Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $457,279,000 after purchasing an additional 163,718 shares during the period. Richmond Investment Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% during the second quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $672,000 after buying an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4,524.0% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 547,944 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $112,131,000 after buying an additional 536,094 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oak Associates Ltd. OH acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $904,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $188.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 119.06, a PEG ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 0.79. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.15 and a 1-year high of $223.61. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $201.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $197.20.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of several analyst reports. HSBC cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. New Street Research lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Mizuho set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.20.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total transaction of $23,177,738.34. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 327,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,878,351.95. The trade was a 26.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,685,690.72. This represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 376,922 shares of company stock valued at $77,963,339 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.