Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd Boosts Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 37.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,946 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,973 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks accounts for approximately 1.2% of Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,992,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Tradewinds LLC. increased its stake 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 worth $791,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Partners LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 750 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carr Financial Group Corp increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% in the third quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 715 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $244,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,353,042.65. The trade was a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 in the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. HSBC cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $189.55 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 106.79, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $186.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.12. 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 announced 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 firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share 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.