EFG Asset Management North America Corp. Boosts Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

EFG Asset Management North America Corp. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 214.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 27,750 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,929 shares during the period. EFG Asset Management North America Corp.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,051,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $36,316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,619 shares during the last quarter. United Bank lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 6,835 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at about $231,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 26.6% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 7,449 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,546,000 after buying an additional 1,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $886,000 after buying an additional 677 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $184.79 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $186.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.23. The firm has a market cap of $122.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 104.11, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $132.50 and a 12 month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its 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. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.