Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Grows Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 51.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 66,522 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 22,537 shares during the quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $11,351,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 102.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 150 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. TD Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $196.27 on Monday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $184.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $185.01. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.01 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The firm has a market cap of $130.87 billion, a PE ratio of 110.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 321,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. The trade was a 27.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at $586,132,981.56. The trade was a 2.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 789,736 shares of company stock worth $139,837,528. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks 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.

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