Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Sold by Mattson Financial Services LLC

Mattson Financial Services LLC decreased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 23.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,663 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 2,005 shares during the period. Mattson Financial Services LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,212,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $11,142,122,000 after buying an additional 31,281,359 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,611,013,000 after acquiring an additional 6,725,148 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,427,048,000 after purchasing an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,533,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,038.83. The trade was a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total value of $18,252,574.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Roth Capital began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded up $4.96 during trading on Friday, hitting $190.78. 11,416,203 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,559,007. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.01 and a 52-week high of $208.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 107.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $178.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.87.

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