Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Purchased by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 102.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,943,450 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 981,478 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp owned about 0.30% of Palo Alto Networks worth $353,632,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $36,316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,619 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.6% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 64,737 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $22,127,000 after purchasing an additional 5,133 shares during the period. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 10.7% during the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 2,606 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $891,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.1% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,528 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,915,000 after purchasing an additional 1,119 shares during the period. Finally, Sfmg LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the third quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 16,836 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $5,754,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded up $3.04 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $179.08. The stock had a trading volume of 1,649,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,809,822. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $177.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.57 billion, a PE ratio of 100.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.81 and a twelve month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PANW. Guggenheim downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, March 31st. 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, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. The trade was a 2.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,039,318 shares of company stock worth $181,925,602. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.