First County Bank CT Purchases 4,125 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

First County Bank CT lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 74.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,632 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 4,125 shares during the quarter. First County Bank CT's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,644,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PANW. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 18,802.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,410,290 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $411,292,000 after buying an additional 2,397,539 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 45.5% during the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,353 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $231,000 after buying an additional 423 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 13,986 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,387,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the period. Legacy Private Trust Co. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 32.1% during the 1st quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. now owns 16,203 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,765,000 after buying an additional 3,935 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Market Strategies LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 13.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital Market Strategies LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $586,132,981.56. The trade was a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 now owns 293,010 shares in the company, valued at $55,458,002.70. This represents a 29.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $3.24 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $198.10. The company had a trading volume of 1,758,615 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,716,667. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 111.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. The firm's fifty day moving average is $178.50 and its 200-day moving average is $184.88. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. JMP Securities boosted 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 research report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.00.

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.