Prosperity Wealth Management Inc. Trims Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Prosperity Wealth Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 55.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,893 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 2,357 shares during the period. Prosperity Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $323,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the 4th 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 increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,427,048,000 after buying an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 3,841,359 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. HSBC raised Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Guggenheim reissued a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Two 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded down $2.27 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $199.78. 3,321,715 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,472,441. The company has a market cap of $133.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 114.16, a P/E/G ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 0.97. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $142.01 and a one year high of $208.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $186.18 and a 200 day moving average of $185.26.

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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 789,736 shares of company stock valued at $139,837,528 over the last ninety days. 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.