Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC Boosts Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,600 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,300 shares during the quarter. Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,201,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of PANW. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,528 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,915,000 after purchasing an additional 1,119 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,642,000. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% in the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 9,269 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,169,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the period. Old Port Advisors increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 97.1% in the 4th quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 1,224 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $223,000 after buying an additional 603 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 256.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 648 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. The trade was a 2.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total value of $18,252,574.62. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at $48,629,704.62. This trade represents a 27.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,039,318 shares of company stock valued at $181,925,602 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Stephens started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, JMP Securities raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $187.70 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.71. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $142.01 and a one year high of $208.39. The company has a market capitalization of $124.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS 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.