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

Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 26.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 53,688 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,307 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $15,831,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GSG Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 5,160 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 300 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 46.4% during the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 4,178 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,232,000 after buying an additional 1,325 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 148.9% in the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 189,801 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $44,497,000 after acquiring an additional 113,534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 137,104 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,143,000 after acquiring an additional 735 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, January 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Northland Securities cut Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.82.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total value of $10,376,640.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,295,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $373,434,232.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,295,567 shares in the company, valued at $373,434,232.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total value of $17,059,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,327,194.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 158,917 shares of company stock valued at $44,335,843. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $300.57 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $186.75 and a 12 month high of $380.84. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $285.94 and its 200 day moving average is $294.03. The stock has a market cap of $97.11 billion, a PE ratio of 46.96, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.18.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 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.