United Services Automobile Association Purchases Shares of 15,012 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

United Services Automobile Association acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 15,012 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,732,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 5,658 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% in the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,886,000 after buying an additional 11,095 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $244,871,000 after buying an additional 606,778 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,883 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $707,000 after acquiring an additional 934 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 103.0% in the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 97,351 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $17,714,000 after acquiring an additional 49,391 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price (down previously from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $182.32 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $120.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 102.72, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $186.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.50 and a 52-week 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 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current 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.