Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Raises Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 9.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 223,328 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 19,117 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. owned approximately 0.07% of Palo Alto Networks worth $75,710,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,129,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,127 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth approximately $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $150,520,000 after purchasing an additional 444,100 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,099,564,000 after purchasing an additional 255,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 63.8% during the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 640,755 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $188,946,000 after purchasing an additional 249,455 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total value of $42,165,110.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,791,570. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total value of $42,165,110.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,791,570. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.77, for a total value of $11,439,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,187,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $377,373,165.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 359,732 shares of company stock worth $118,815,557 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on PANW. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $369.26.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $335.75 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $337.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $315.53. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $230.09 and a one year high of $380.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.98 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.