S&CO Inc. Increases Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

S&CO Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 100.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 66,304 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,152 shares during the period. S&CO Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $12,064,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after acquiring an additional 220,900 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $764,764,000 after acquiring an additional 2,197,765 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $388,155,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,213,073 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. BTIG Research downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $173.83 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $115.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.93, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $185.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.80. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $132.50 and a 1 year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.