Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Cuts Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co lowered its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 21.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,695 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 980 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,050,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. now owns 2,463 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $726,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 204 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 233 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,527 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $450,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded up $7.22 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $324.73. The stock had a trading volume of 2,040,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,456,120. The company has a market cap of $105.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.17, a PEG ratio of 4.93 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $201.17 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $321.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $312.25.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. The business 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 31.42% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total value of $42,165,110.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,791,570. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total transaction of $42,165,110.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,791,570. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.31, for a total transaction of $10,559,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,259,567 shares in the company, valued at $369,443,596.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 392,391 shares of company stock worth $125,770,677 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on PANW. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $384.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $385.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Daiwa Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 target price for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $364.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $325.59.

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.