Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Has $6.73 Million Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC reduced its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 24.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 39,440 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 12,540 shares during the quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,730,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hudock Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 2,763 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Napatree Capital LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 17.2% in the 1st quarter. Napatree Capital LLC now owns 2,190 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $374,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 3,401 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $580,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the period. FWG Holdings LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 13.1% during the 1st quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 4,451 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $831,000 after buying an additional 517 shares during the period. Finally, Summit X LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 104.5% during the 1st quarter. Summit X LLC now owns 9,050 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,544,000 after buying an additional 4,625 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, HSBC raised Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded up $3.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $196.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,297,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,411,936. The stock has a market cap of $130.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.38 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $142.01 and a one year high of $208.39. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $195.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.85.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total value of $22,858,894.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 293,010 shares in the company, valued at $55,458,002.70. The trade was a 29.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total transaction of $1,009,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 101,135 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,414,099.75. The trade was a 4.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 569,248 shares of company stock valued at $111,279,829 in the last 90 days. Company 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.