Czech National Bank Purchases 7,801 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Czech National Bank increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 4.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 169,641 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 7,801 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $34,542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $261,000. Strive Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% in the first quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $457,279,000 after acquiring an additional 163,718 shares during the period. Richmond Investment Services LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% in the second quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $672,000 after buying an additional 1,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4,524.0% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 547,944 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $112,131,000 after purchasing an additional 536,094 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $183.44 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $202.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $197.45. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61. The company has a market cap of $127.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.10, a PEG ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.79.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PANW. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday. Mizuho set a $220.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Northland Securities raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.79.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total transaction of $23,177,738.34. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 327,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,878,351.95. The trade was a 26.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,228,330 shares of company stock worth $251,702,305. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks 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.