Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Acquires 16,405 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 64.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,759 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 16,405 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $7,598,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hudson Canyon Capital Management bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $1,856,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 111.4% during the 4th quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 16,664 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,032,000 after acquiring an additional 8,782 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 118.6% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,224 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,588,000 after acquiring an additional 7,717 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortis Group Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 101.6% during the 4th quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 2,806 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,414 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $205.19 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.04 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The stock has a market cap of $134.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.60, a P/E/G ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $187.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $182.68.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331. Insiders own 2.50% 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.