Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. Decreases Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. reduced its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 26.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 228,931 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 83,422 shares during the quarter. Palo Alto Networks makes up about 1.4% of Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. owned about 0.07% of Palo Alto Networks worth $67,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 61.8% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 55 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,071.4% in the second quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 82 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on PANW. Truist Financial upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Northland Securities downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Capital One Financial downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $302.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Citigroup upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $2.46 on Wednesday, hitting $277.48. 1,964,967 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,602,994. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $300.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $290.27. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $176.30 and a 52 week high of $380.84. The company has a market cap of $89.65 billion, a PE ratio of 43.26, a PEG ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total transaction of $15,436,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at $67,955,958.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

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.