Natixis Advisors L.P. Increases Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 26.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 53,688 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,307 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $15,831,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 233 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 1,519 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $448,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,527 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Financial Services LTD. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 1,061 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $313,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.5 %

PANW stock opened at $300.57 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $97.11 billion, a PE ratio of 46.96, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $285.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $294.03. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of several analyst reports. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $290.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the sale, the president now owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total transaction of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,295,567 shares in the company, valued at $373,434,232.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 158,917 shares of company stock worth $44,335,843. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.