Private Trust Co. NA Increases Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 101.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,401 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,589,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. First American Bank grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 101.2% during the fourth quarter. First American Bank now owns 61,770 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $11,240,000 after acquiring an additional 31,063 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 69.6% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,454 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $628,000 after acquiring an additional 1,417 shares during the last quarter. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.3% during the fourth quarter. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd now owns 2,570 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $468,000 after acquiring an additional 1,287 shares during the last quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 112.9% in the 4th quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,540 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,372,000 after buying an additional 3,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 100.4% in the 4th quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC now owns 20,960 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,814,000 after buying an additional 10,500 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $190.43 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $186.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.32. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $132.50 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The company has a market capitalization of $126.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.29, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. BTIG Research lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

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.