New York Life Investment Management LLC Has $17.71 Million Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 103.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 97,351 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,391 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $17,714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,048,033,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,474 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213,073 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 107.8% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,634,701 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $297,450,000 after purchasing an additional 848,127 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 104.1% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,562,722 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $284,353,000 after buying an additional 796,964 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 100.6% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,374,653 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $250,132,000 after buying an additional 689,458 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $189.55 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $125.50 billion, a PE ratio of 106.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $132.50 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $186.60 and its 200-day moving average is $184.12.

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, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. BTIG Research lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.