Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Acquired by Captrust Financial Advisors

Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 109.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 790,820 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 413,193 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors owned approximately 0.12% of Palo Alto Networks worth $143,898,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% in the 4th quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abound Wealth Management boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% in the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Stephens cut Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.06.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.2 %

Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $188.53. The stock had a trading volume of 3,675,688 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,739,385. The firm's 50 day moving average is $175.92 and its 200 day moving average is $184.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 106.21, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $142.01 and a one year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.