TCW Group Inc. Increases Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

TCW Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 93.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,008,149 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 487,654 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up 1.5% of TCW Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $183,443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tradewinds LLC. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $791,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $119,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,741,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klingman & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% in the third quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 750 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was 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 owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331 in the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. OTR Global reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned 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, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.69.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.9 %

PANW stock opened at $191.03 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $126.48 billion, a PE ratio of 107.62, a P/E/G 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. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $187.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $183.48.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 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.