Wills Financial Group LLC Takes Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Key Points

• Wills Financial Group LLC invested approximately $8.17 million in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (PANW), acquiring 47,881 shares and making it the fund's 7th largest holding.
• Several institutional investors significantly increased their stakes in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter, with Northern Trust Corp boosting its shares by 133.7% and GAMMA Investing LLC making an 18,802.8% increase.
• Palo Alto Networks reported a positive earnings result with an EPS of $0.80, surpassing analyst expectations, alongside a 15.3% year-over-year revenue growth for the quarter.

Wills Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 47,881 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $8,170,000. Palo Alto Networks accounts for about 3.6% of Wills Financial Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% in the 4th 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. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 98.0% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,158,580 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,120,615,000 after purchasing an additional 3,047,625 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 92.7% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,951,283 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,082,895,000 after purchasing an additional 2,862,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 18,802.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,410,290 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $411,292,000 after buying an additional 2,397,539 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $172.88 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $196.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $187.36. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.01 and a 52-week high of $210.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 98.79, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Northland Securities dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. HSBC raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $209.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $99,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,640,080. The trade was a 5.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.66, for a total value of $19,866,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 3,243,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,356,888.56. This represents a 2.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 448,474 shares of company stock worth $88,420,934 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

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.

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