Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Sold by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp lowered its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 0.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,370,400 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 4,253 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks accounts for 0.9% of Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Fifth Third Bancorp owned 0.21% of Palo Alto Networks worth $233,845,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PANW. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,230,000 after buying an additional 4,031 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.1% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 12,761 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,322,000 after purchasing an additional 5,978 shares during the last quarter. Equitable Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 2,658 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 1,329 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 84.3% during the fourth quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 11,372 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,069,000 after purchasing an additional 5,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Essex Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 117.1% during the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,966 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW traded up $3.28 on Thursday, reaching $197.67. 4,157,094 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,491,258. The stock has a market cap of $131.81 billion, a PE ratio of 111.36, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $182.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.09.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group raised their target price 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. Guggenheim reissued a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.14, for a total transaction of $23,567,838.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 264,246 shares in the company, valued at $51,564,964.44. The trade was a 31.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 789,736 shares of company stock worth $139,837,528. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.