Greenleaf Trust Boosts Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Greenleaf Trust boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,773 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 1,707 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 150 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded down $13.99 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $192.07. 9,212,891 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,405,109. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.01 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The company has a market cap of $128.07 billion, a PE ratio of 109.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $195.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $185.79.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on PANW. Northland Securities cut their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Stephens downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Roth Capital initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.00, for a total value of $122,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 41,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,452,332. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.66, for a total transaction of $19,866,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,243,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,356,888.56. This trade represents a 2.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 669,248 shares of company stock valued at $127,820,829 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.