South Plains Financial Inc. Purchases Shares of 4,180 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

South Plains Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,180 shares of the network technology company's stock, valued at approximately $761,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% in the fourth quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Abound Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Stephens assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. Susquehanna increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.5 %

PANW traded up $0.92 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $189.05. 1,306,242 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,764,277. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The stock has a market cap of $125.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 106.33, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. The business's 50 day moving average is $175.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.68.

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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $54,854,038.83. The trade was a 41.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 448,188 shares of company stock valued at $74,074,795. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.