AQR Capital Management LLC Has $395.63 Million Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,952,649 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 279,257 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $395,626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. PDT Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 129.9% during the 2nd quarter. PDT Partners LLC now owns 43,214 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,843,000 after acquiring an additional 24,414 shares during the period. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $553,000. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $153,000. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 5,857 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,199,000 after acquiring an additional 1,952 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,025,330 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $209,824,000 after purchasing an additional 20,276 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total transaction of $1,020,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares in the company, valued at $19,629,805.65. The trade was a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 1,228,330 shares of company stock worth $251,702,305 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.7%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $191.69 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $133.61 billion, a PE ratio of 121.32, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.79. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $223.61. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $204.67 and its 200 day moving average is $197.44.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PANW. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $248.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Thirty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.09.

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.