NBT Bank N A NY Raises Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

NBT Bank N A NY raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 34.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,902 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,147 shares during the quarter. NBT Bank N A NY's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $4,761,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 789,736 shares of company stock worth $139,837,528 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.0%

NASDAQ:PANW traded up $3.94 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $202.05. 4,129,450 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,474,042. The company has a market cap of $134.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 113.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.01 and a 1 year high of $208.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $185.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. Palo Alto Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. TD Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.00.

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.