Congress Asset Management Co. Grows Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 1.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 568,046 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,501 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. owned about 0.09% of Palo Alto Networks worth $96,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% in the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,378 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $433,000 after buying an additional 1,226 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,122,000 after buying an additional 5,658 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% in the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,886,000 after buying an additional 11,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $244,871,000 after buying an additional 606,778 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.36, for a total transaction of $19,336,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,343,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $646,502,253.76. The trade was a 2.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.14, for a total transaction of $23,567,838.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 264,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,564,964.44. The trade was a 31.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW traded up $2.49 on Friday, reaching $199.60. 3,304,756 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,524,412. The company's 50 day moving average is $180.48 and its 200-day moving average is $185.09. The company has a market cap of $133.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.45, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The company's revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on PANW. KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Westpark Capital reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two investment 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.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.