Sunbelt Securities Inc. Buys 2,163 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 109.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,140 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 2,163 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc.'s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $763,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in 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 last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted 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 purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total transaction of $22,858,894.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 293,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $55,458,002.70. The trade was a 29.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Roth Capital initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. HSBC upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Truist Financial dropped 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 report on Monday, March 31st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Stephens lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $206.40.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded up $0.34 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $187.80. The stock had a trading volume of 3,853,274 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,590,369. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $178.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.20. The company has a market capitalization of $125.23 billion, a PE ratio of 105.80, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.01 and a 12 month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks 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.