Marshall Investment Management LLC Takes Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 878 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $160,000.

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

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $191.03 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $187.09 and its 200-day moving average is $183.48. The company has a market cap of $126.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price target (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. BTIG Research downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. OTR Global reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 target price (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.69.

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.