Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 7.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 55,899 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,888 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $9,539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 valued at $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% 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 last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings 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 last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position 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 worth $1,427,048,000 after buying an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,324,387,000 after acquiring an additional 1,088,631 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.3%
Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded down $0.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $195.78. The company had a trading volume of 2,977,409 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,403,772. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.01 and a 52-week high of $208.39. The stock has a market cap of $130.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 111.87, a PEG ratio of 5.48 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $195.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $186.03.
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $99,940.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,640,080. The trade was a 5.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.86, for a total transaction of $24,258,665.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 235,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,298,914.52. This represents a 33.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 569,248 shares of company stock valued at $111,279,829. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Northland Securities decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Truist Financial dropped 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 report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $209.16.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on PANW
About Palo Alto Networks
(
Free Report)
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.
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