TCW Group Inc. Acquires 487,654 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

TCW Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 93.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,008,149 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 487,654 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 1.5% of TCW Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. TCW Group Inc. owned 0.15% of Palo Alto Networks worth $183,443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Denver PWM LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 115.5% in the 4th quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 666 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 92.1% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 4,768 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $868,000 after acquiring an additional 2,286 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.2% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 80,235 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $14,600,000 after acquiring an additional 41,696 shares during the last quarter. Lipe & Dalton boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 2,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 135.3% during the 4th quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 26,191 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,766,000 after acquiring an additional 15,058 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $191.03 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.50 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $187.09 and its 200 day moving average is $183.48. The company has a market cap of $126.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 107.62, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on PANW. UBS Group increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. OTR Global restated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.69.

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.