Quadrant Capital Group LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 120.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,168 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,923 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Cascades Capital Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Cascades Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 3,726 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $678,000 after purchasing an additional 1,863 shares in the last quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 185.7% in the 4th quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 100,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $18,196,000 after buying an additional 65,000 shares in the last quarter. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Wedbush Securities Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 106.0% during the fourth quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 62,182 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $11,315,000 after buying an additional 31,997 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,121,531 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $204,074,000 after buying an additional 544,336 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on PANW shares. BTIG Research lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. 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 two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.27.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $153.57 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $132.83 and a 1 year high of $208.39. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $185.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.36. The firm has a market cap of $101.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.52, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07.

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, topping the consensus estimate 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, 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 have sold 818,544 shares of company stock valued at $147,132,028 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.