Plimoth Trust Co. LLC Purchases 3,781 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Plimoth Trust Co. LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 54.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,665 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,781 shares during the period. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,611,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,427,048,000 after purchasing an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted 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 worth $1,533,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Truist Financial reduced their price objective 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. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted 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, Roth Capital began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $210.00 target price for the company. Two equities 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ PANW traded down $0.54 during trading on Friday, hitting $199.24. 8,285,645 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,480,472. The company has a market cap of $132.85 billion, a PE ratio of 113.85, a P/E/G ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $186.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $185.29.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. The trade was a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.