US Bancorp DE Purchases 6,624 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Key Points

• US Bancorp DE boosted its Palo Alto Networks stake by 6,624 shares in Q4, now owning 1,371,066 shares (≈0.20% of the company) valued at about $252.55 million.
• Palo Alto Networks beat quarterly expectations with EPS of $1.03 vs. $0.94 and revenue of $2.59B (up 14.9% YoY), reflecting a market cap near $148.1B and a high valuation (P/E ≈100).
• Insiders sold 30,356 shares (~$4.98M) in the last quarter, while analysts hold a "Moderate Buy" consensus and an average price target of roughly $210.07.

US Bancorp DE boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,371,066 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,624 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE owned 0.20% of Palo Alto Networks worth $252,550,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wagner Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,694 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $312,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $241,000. Renasant Bank increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Renasant Bank now owns 5,450 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,004,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $264,000. Finally, Rachor Investment Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $111,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.3%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $181.54 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $162.89 and a 200-day moving average of $181.42. The firm has a market cap of $148.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 100.30, a P/E/G ratio of 6.59 and a beta of 0.77. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. Palo Alto Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Berenberg Bank set a $215.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Benchmark started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. They set a "buy" rating and a $200.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $210.07.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total transaction of $3,729,476.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 52,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,631,525. This represents a 30.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $802,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 150,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,103,105. This represents a 3.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 30,356 shares of company stock valued at $4,981,575 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks NASDAQ: PANW is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company's product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.

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