Heritage Trust Co Grows Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Key Points

• Heritage Trust Co increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 14.2%, now owning 12,206 shares valued at approximately $2.08 million.
• Institutional investors collectively own 79.82% of Palo Alto Networks' stock, indicating significant institutional interest in the company.
• Palo Alto Networks reported $2.29 billion in revenue for the last quarter, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 15.3%, and earnings per share of $0.80, surpassing estimates.

Heritage Trust Co lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 14.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,206 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 1,514 shares during the quarter. Heritage Trust Co's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,083,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the 4th 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 during the period. SYM FINANCIAL Corp raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 4,047 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $691,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Crew Capital Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% during the first quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 2,310 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $394,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, JDM Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 322 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total value of $1,009,250.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.00, for a total transaction of $122,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 41,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,452,332. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 669,248 shares of company stock worth $126,423,337 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of several research reports. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $209.61.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $3.80 on Wednesday, reaching $172.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,750,662 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,985,103. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $210.39. The company has a market capitalization of $115.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.79, a P/E/G ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.94. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $195.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $187.19.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

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.