Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Position Boosted by Ensign Peak Advisors Inc

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 57.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 541,757 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 198,492 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned 0.08% of Palo Alto Networks worth $98,578,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,611,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,427,048,000 after purchasing an additional 4,486,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,533,419,000 after buying an additional 3,841,359 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of a number of research reports. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $186.93 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $176.07 and its 200-day moving average is $184.72. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.01 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The company has a market capitalization of $123.77 billion, a PE ratio of 105.31, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,854,038.83. The trade was a 41.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.